Pto clutch discs

[BobIN]

Has anyone tried the after market pto clutch discs? What is your opinion of them? The after market ones are $17 while Deere wants $53

 

[730d se]

Unless you own stock in the big company, I think common sense would lead us to purchase the $17 disk.
Of coarse, there is at aleast one on here that still tries to somehow justify paying those extremely high prices. (maybe it is the convenience of that toll free number that he always post? LOL)
I would say that you will get the same service out of the disk.
I will not think twice about it when it is time to replace my PTO disk.

 

[buickanddeere]

What does having the service manual in hand have to do with parts prices and source?

 

[Retro80]

I put some aftermarket disks in the 730. On a couple of disks, I had to file a little material so the disks would slide on to the shaft. Had them for about 2 years now. So far they work as good as the Deere disks.

 

[hoosier boy]

I figure the hours its going to take and if its more than a few I stick with the OEM. In todays world I figure its best to stay in the big companies supply chain rather than risk out sourcing.

 

[730d se]

There are various reasons that some people are not perfect and do not do things in a manner that others do or would.
Sometimes people just need a fast answer on here. Sometimes they have gotten so flustered with a tractor problem that a parts, service AND ops manual would serve no purpose.
We can usually tell when someone is either new at this and/or they are so flustered that they cannot figure out the problem.
To offer a phone number whereby they can procure manuals is great, but if that is all they get, it is almost like a slap in the face.
I tried several calculators and they all indicated that $58 is over 3 times what $17 is.
They could be all faulty, maybe I should have paid 3.5 times more and bought my calculator from the big company?
Ten years ago, I was able to buy some of these parts from the big company. While they were not the cheapest, they were inline with added service and dependabilty.
These days, one of the dealers will not look me in the eye when they quote a price. They actually admitted to me that while they want my business, they fully understand if and why I buy elsewhere.
In most cases, I could buy elsewhere, sell at the big company price, and make a huge margin.
Too bad I am not in the parts selling business. LOL
There are still facets of the big company that are good, but it is not parts for these old tractors.
It may surprise some that some of the parts and items are made by the same companies that the cheaper ones are, and to the same or better specs.
Keep in mind that big companies employed a profit maker called "designed obsolescence" years ago. This does not apply to many of the NOS parts as they were produced before this was employed. So, they muliply the sale price by the number of miles to the moon to make up for it.
I have a toll free number that you can call that will further explain this if you like.

 

[F-I-T]

Bob:

It might depend on which $17 disk you are talking about, but I installed a set of the WTR pto disks and they seemed fine. I also have a set on the main pulley.

On the other topic, I like to buy from Deere when I can afford to, only because if I can show them through purchasing numbers that there are still old two-cylinders being used, they might keep providing parts for a few more years. It's all about the demand curve. Say you need a fuel gauge push button switch, like I do now, for a 70 Diesel. That switch is no more costly to produce for a 70D than a similar switch for my 2005 4310, but many fewer of the former are demanded in a year's time. But you know what, even though it is pricey, and it would seem that a lot of aftermarket switch making companies would just into this huge opportunity to sell probably fewer than 200 switches a year, there is only one place that provides that switch today, and that is my local John Deere dealer.

 

[ET]

Designed obsolescence brings to mind somthing I was told years ago when I was working at a jd dealer. All parts for john deere equipment are produced for ten years after production ends for any machine. Then a 20 year supply is produced acording to sales history. After that the tooling and dies are scraped.

 

[buickanddeere]

Odd then how new parts are still showing up from Deere for 40,50 & 60 year old equipment?

 

[buickanddeere]

Read it again. It's only one sentence. I should take more than 5 minutes of your time.

Quote"What does having the service manual in hand have to do with parts prices and source?" Unquote

If somebody is all panicked with a project. It's best to take a step back and ease the pressure.
If a pro finds useful data in a service manual? What is a amateur going to find in a manual?

 

[MSD]

I recently had the opportunity to tour the A&I manufacturing plant in Iowa. Many times on the tour we heard "we are the supplier to JD, IH, etc. for this particular part". In fact, JD owns a share of A&I. That said, I wouldn't use a clutch disk with facings from them again. After siting over the winter, the new ones I put in my 720 seperated from each other. The bonding didn't hold. I only use riveted ones now.

 

[gtx1967jewison]

i fully agree with fit. people crying on here all the time about parts from deere too much $ then in the next post that they're not available. the machine is from 40 to 70 years old. be glad they have the part, who cares what it costs, go buy a new machine to do the same job then you'll have something to squeal about. as for the parade type guys, its a hobby, a very expensive one, so pucker up n pay. or buy the dust collectors for your bookshelf instead.

 

[ET]

Yes thats the glitch in that whole consept, I was told that by the area service rep. They have found enough demand for high activity parts to reproduce them, but thats why they are expensive. It costs as much to tool up and build and shelf just 1000 units to meet today's demand as it did to tool up and run off 20,000 units for the demand 40 years ago. Therefor cost per unit is much higher today. I just got some wrist pin bushings for a late model B. It turns out those bushings are still being used in some current machines and they only cost about $5 each and they were in stock. Deere can build and sell enough of them to have lower production cost.

 

[alabamafrog]

Dad just bought an old Ford 8N and started working on it. I started looking into finding some parts for him expecting it to cost way more than the tractor would be worth. To my surprise parts seemed readily available and way way cheaper than comparable Deere parts. This was in the aftermarket market not the dealer’s, I haven’t did any comparisons with the dealers.

I have also noticed that some parts from mother Deere are reasonable and others are outrageously high, like a $700 starter for my 8 year old tractor or the $17/$53 difference discussed here. I have also noticed that it seems like a lot of the old 2 banger parts from Deere are cheap aftermarket looking reproductions that do not match the look or quality of the original parts at all.

So I guess my question is, yes I’m happy parts are still available but why are Deere parts so much higher than other makes?




As for the other things being discussed, I think that posting nothing but a phone number with no explanations of any kind can be taken wrong by new members. These new members may turn into great tractor wizards in the future that can help this board and our hobby, we should show them a little respect and try not to turn them away with unpleasant posts and arguments and jabs at one another. It may also help to let new folks know that there are other places besides mother deere that manuals can be purchased way cheaper, just like most other parts, which gets back into the original discussion.