Just how expensive are Kubota parts?

[JATO_RaT]

Andy, your definitely not comparing apples to apples. First and foremost, why would you have to buy Kubota teeth, New Holland teeth JD teeth, Caterpillar teeth etc.? The quality in teeth goes all over the map. I've seen carbide teeth, forged hardened teeth, mild steel teeth etc. . Make sure your comparing the same. Go buy a Kubota engine oil filter, about $8.00. Is that super expensive when a Fram PH8 will cost $2.99 on sale? Its more but all the other brands are comparable. You said you bought New Holland teeth. Well my New Holland dealer doesn't sell New Holland teeth. He sells teeth but they most definitely are not NH, Kubota, JD or any other tractor company teeth. They are forged, not the bolt on mild steel that will do fine in soft earth and cost less then $4.00 each. In an effort to make sure accuracy is maintained, make sure your not out trying to grossly show that NH sells the exact same tooth as Kubota if in fact that is who makes them for about $48.00 less. If that was accurate, the teeth might stay on the shef well into the next century. You gotta think about it! You can't charge whatever you want and stay in business. High prices don't bring in more profit, the law of diminshing returns prevents this. Rat...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Rat, I think you mis-understood. My post hole digger is an International brand with a Worksaver auger. The only thing Kubota about the digger is the tractor that powers it. If you look at my 1st post, I was comparing John Deere teeth in a kit to New Holland teeth, nothing about Kubota teeth. The New Holland teeth I bought are indeed a New Holland product. They each come in a sealed plastic bag with the New Holland logo and part number printed on it. I will walk out to the shed and get the part number if you want me to. After using one New Holland tooth and one Worksaver tooth on the auger to dig about 60 holes in rocky New England soil, I would say the New Holland teeth are hardened. The $2.50 New Holland tooth has about half the wear as the Worksaver tooth and the Worksaver teeth are advertized as hardened teeth. Maybe the John Deere teeth are better than the New Holland teeth, but at 10 times the cost I will never even check to see if I get more than 10 times the wear.

I think I was comparing apples to apples. Both John Deere and New Holland are name brand major tractor suppliers. The start of the thread was asking how expensive Kubota parts were compared to competitors prices. What I was illustrating was that the competitors prices can be very expensive too. Sure you can buy after market supplies for less, but that was not the question.

As far as charging high prices and staying in business, the Deere guy couldn't even remember the last time he sold any of the $52 teeth. Almost any brand of post hole digger teeth will fit any auger, and other brands of oil filters will fit a tractor, but for many tractor parts there is no choice, you have to buy from the company that made the tractor. I think that was the reason for Jeremy's question.

I work for a major large engine manufacturer and I know for a fact that some parts are marked up as much as 50 times their actual cost just because no one else can supply them.

Andy