parts at outrageous prices

[OzarkChris]

I'd like to buy a locking lynch pin like this one but nobody has one, not even my JD dealer can get one for me, and it came off of my new JD tractor.

View attachment 2368005

Buy a regular one and run over it a couple of times, it will probably look similar anyway!

 

[WinterDeere]

I guess you never bought parts from John Deere.
You'll almost need a loan for the simplest parts, like a 10" x 1,5" shaft with a splined end for a baler gear box, price tag $1000+

You're paying for availability, and the cost of low-volume fabricating and stocking seldom-used parts, when buying for older machines.

I've owned four John Deere tractors built roughly 1978 - 2019, and have kept two of them past 30 years of age, one past 40. What I've found is that their part pricing on newer stuff is mostly reasonable, really for anything still in production. But once current production is discontinued on a model, they're no longer producing parts for it in sufficient volume to keep the costs down, and you see the price start to climb.

I'd still rather own a machine for which parts are at least available, albeit at high cost, than a brand for which you just can't get the parts you need. We see enough of that, on this forum.

 

[lilranch2001]

You're paying for availability, and the cost of low-volume fabricating and stocking seldom-used parts, when buying for older machines.

I've owned four John Deere tractors built roughly 1978 - 2019, and have kept two of them past 30 years of age, one past 40. What I've found is that their part pricing on newer stuff is mostly reasonable, really for anything still in production. But once current production is discontinued on a model, they're no longer producing parts for it in sufficient volume to keep the costs down, and you see the price start to climb.

I'd still rather own a machine for which parts are at least available, albeit at high cost, than a brand for which you just can't get the parts you need. We see enough of that, on this forum.

When I owned a 50 year old Ford 8N, I could buy anything I needed for it and surprisingly, the prices were usually dirt cheap

 

[WinterDeere]

When I owned a 50 year old Ford 8N, I could buy anything I needed for it and surprisingly, the prices were usually dirt cheap

From Ford? I can buy aftermarket or used parts for Deere much cheaper than OEM, and I suspect that is to what you're comparing, when talking about any 50 year old Ford.

Those 8N's also benefit from ubiquity... they were way more popular and produced in higher numbers with fewer changes, than probably any individual model made in more recent years.

 

[Deertamer]

I have sold a lot to the government over the years, specifically Army and Navy. Their documentation requirements always quadruple the cost associated with producing anything for them.

I don't make $2 or $20 lynch pins, but I did work for a company that made $1.5M amplifiers, for which we charged the Army $5M each. The biggest singular difference between the $1.5M commercial product and the $5M military product, was the Biblical levels of testing, documentation and review required. In fact, we had to quadruple the test time allocation, and hire additional staff just to handle the documentation. The Army hired an outside firm to handle their end of specifying the documentation requirements, and then later reviewing and approving it all.

Having worked my whole life in commercial industry, where few things are documented as well as you'd like, and even if it were you can no longer find the required documents after key people leave the organization, I can appreciate why they go to these lengths. But it does come with a very definite cost.

The increased testing time and requirements were due to their anticipation of new requirements, yet unknown today, which would arise during the lifetime of the product. So, they requested that the product can perform and be tested for operating parameters which seem absolutely ridiculous today, but may save them from obsolescence when new threats are identified.

Similar systems went to other non-US military installations (UK, Turkey, etc.) for $3M'ish. Again, all dependent on the level of work required to get the installation approved. The US requirements were the most thorough, but also the most expensive in which to operate.

When I was working in the freight industry there was a customer who sold "O" rings and seals to the military. He bragged to me how much money he was making. Fortunately before one of his counterfeit seals failed in an F-16 he was found out. The last I heard of him he was serving time in a federal prison.

 

[bigtiller]

How about $20 for 1 lynch pin. Outlet Store - Complete Tractor
I doubt this online store will survive.

Kubota sells a Quick lock lynch pin for $25. My Deere dealer sels them for $8, I just bought one.

Kubota #70091-00150 PIN, LYNCH LOCKI

PIN, LYNCH LOCKI

www.messicks.com

 

[Bob435]

For sure. I didn’t mean to sound like I was criticizing the cost, it was more an explanation or justification of why our government spends more on products than some might think justified.

I had adjunct professor in my account course who was an auditor for the Air Force. This was during the time of the $600 hammer. He said the same thing as WinterDeere said. In that $600 hammer order was one F16 cockpit canopy. I thinks the tax payers got a good deal for the $600 cockpit canopy.

It is just how some of the government agency work. Purchase orders are batched and cost is averaged.

Bob G.

 

[WinterDeere]

When I was working in the freight industry there was a customer who sold "O" rings and seals to the military. He bragged to me how much money he was making. Fortunately before one of his counterfeit seals failed in an F-16 he was found out. The last I heard of him he was serving time in a federal prison.

I had more than one co-worker become a guest of the Federal penitentiary system, due to filing fraudulent paperwork with the various federal agencies that governed our work and intellectual property. Those wheels of justice grind slowly, but awful fine. Don't mess around, when it comes to selling to the government.

More than that, there's the ethics of the whole matter. If said O-rings underperformed in any way, it's not exaggeration to say it could cost the life of one or several pilots, or even those on the ground. It's this high penalty for error that justifies the increased testing and documentation, which drives the cost up on a part that might be sold commercially at much lower prices.

 

[5030]

Parts prices as well as everything else won't come down, in fact they will keep rising until inflation gets under control and that won't happen for a good while.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Fellas, does this thread remind you of the old "parts guys"?

Remember going into an auto parts store or a tractor shop, and there would be a counter with books and three ring binders stacked everywhere?

And the parts guy would know just where to look to find the part. And he'd grab the big phone to call in the order.

And if you're really old, you might remember this:

You'd go in and buy a battery, but you didn't take it home right then. The parts guy would pull out the battery your spec'd, then fill it with electrolyte and set it on a charger. "Come back in an hour and it will be ready for you."

Good memories . . .