Weekend hay, JD is price gouging

[Northvale PA]

This is a long one: we finally got a stretch of good weather forecast after last Thursday night, so mowed down the last 8 acres of Timothy. A huge T-storm was bearing down on us from the north but fizzled out so we called it perfect. Perfect weather next 3 days, hay dried quickly. Raked and baled all. Then, the breakdown: on the last turn, the PTO cross bearing disintegrated and finally pulled out on the very last bale. Not a big problem as we have a second baler. But, the shaft yoke got damaged beyond repair. Now for the bad news: looked up the replacement part on JD Parts, and rather than just the weld on yoke, the part is the yoke + shaft. I am thinking $120 as reasonable. Maybe up to $200 knowing JD. I call the dealer and ask the price and hear $415. What is it with these guys? Do they think we like being ripped off? Are they trying to lose valuable customers? Well I am sharing the story so I guess they might. I went on line looking for options. Found Paul B Zimmerman supply. Cross referenced the size with a Weasley yoke, ordered it yesterday and it got delivered today. $67. I stand by the green tractor and machinery quality but these guys need to understand we have options. More small repair firms and fabricators are going into business all the time now for the older equipment parts. More power to them.

 

[tomstractorsandtoys]

The CEO of Deere is the first ever to have no connections to the John Deere family. He has a business degree and a degree in golf course management. The people running Deere do not care about small farmers, older equipment or even small dealerships. It is all about profit. All the companies have become way overpriced since the last two years events. It is sad but true. Tom

 

[JayinNY]

I know how you feel three pieces of steel for my Baler plunger guide on my 346, $611, well they gave me a free hat! Lol

 

[K in Iowa]

Actually Tom, much of what you say is not true.

Now for the real facts. John Deere has had no family connections since Robert Hanson took over in 1982. Then there was Hans Becker in 1990, Robert Lane in 2000, and Sam Allen in 2010. None of these former CEO's are in the Deere family.

The current CEO is John May. Mr. May does not have a degree in golf course management, but rather a Bachelors of Science Degree in Health Information from the University of New Hampshire, and a Masters Degree in Business from Maine.

Love Deere or hate it, but at least get the facts right.

 

[JayinNY]

Hey hey hey now that resident in that house is a good guy just think how much more things would be priced if he wasnt in there? Im sure he stays up late into the afternoon trying to figure out how to fix things, Its all a big misunderstanding its the other guy in Russias fault, lol, just kidding of course,

 

[Bruce from Can.]

$500.00 hat !

 

[Northvale PA]

I found a place called Green Baler Parts on line. I sent my wiper arms to be rebuilt. Reasonable prices. They fabricate many of the wear parts now. Check them out.

 

[4520BW]

That's cheap! New Holland wants almost 3 grand for a driveshaft for my discbine!

 

[ss55]

I think we all have a natural tendency to defer any preventative maintenance until after equipment breaks down.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

John Deere and money are the same color..GREEN!

 

[Traditional Farmer]

JD wanted $430 for a starter for a 445,got one off ebay for $52 been working perfect.

 

[showcrop]

I just picked up a replacement roll-a-bar end for my JD rake. $396.00. I paid $500.00 for the rake 15 years ago.

 

[Jim.ME]

I'm not saying pricing is right in all cases. Given the way our liability system works, JD (and other manufacturers) are likely trying to protect themselves somewhat. If they sell it as an assembly that slips together there is less exposure than selling you a yoke, you weld on the old shaft. With the assembly they know the shaft is good, can control the welding procedure, and quality. If they sell you the yoke for the shaft as a part for the shaft and you weld it on the old shaft, even if they provide a weld procedure, they have no control of the shaft condition or if you follow the weld procedure. How many farmers making weld repairs are tested, certified, and follow standard weld procedures? Just look up some of the discussions on welding seen on this site. If it breaks and someone is hurt a lawyer will make it JD's fault for selling you the yoke without knowing the shaft was ok for reuse, not controlling the weld procedure, or welder. I forget the actual legal term for this, but it falls under they enticed someone to do something they know could lead to problems. Not with a PTO shaft but in some other cases I have actually known of this happening in cases with injuries involved.

The aftermarket makes and sells you a yoke. They have less stake in how you use it than the manufacturer. They sold you a bare yoke and don't control how you use it. They will say they recommend the end user follow manufacturer recommendations and procedures.

So JD, or other manufacturer, stocks a slow moving assembly that cost them more to manufacture than just a bare yoke. Accountants say having inventory costs money, so the price goes up and it may soon be NLA.

Not saying any of this is right, but its the way things work. JMHO

 

[Johnny Farmer]

Had a friend that had a bush hog brand rotary mower. The drive shaft from the center gear box to outer wing was junk. Went to dealer that sold bush hog and ask if they could get the shaft. Looked it up and said they could, price was 1350 dollars. We walked out and I told him about Des Moines Iron. Went there and They looked up the shaft by numbers on it and walked over and brought the complete shaft over, the price was 200 dollars and some change not only deere that over prices there parts.

 

[4520BW]

I got my bush hog pto shaft from Deere thru A and I at about half the price,

 

[mudcreek183]

Not JD but CIH I backed over a pto shaft for my bean header CIH wanted $450 for it , and it would be a week before they could get it. Local drive shaft shop fixed me up $89.

 

[dhermesc]

Remember when IH hired a genius from Xerox to show them how a modern company should be run? Took him 10 years to destroy the third largest corporation on earth.

 

[pete 23]

I was going to bring up the hiring of a Zerox CEO . Brilliant move by IH.

 

[NY 986]

Reading the other responses and using my own experience I would say that your experience is on par for what is going on. No place is cheap and the rules we used to go by for price are long gone. It is getting to be far in the past where a Weasler square bar shaft assembly was used to build farm equipment. One of the consequences of more but smaller farms fading into history. Any other industry unless you can find used you would be SOL.

 

[JK-NY]

Are they in Penn Yan N.Y.? If so that is Finger Lakes equipment, they have a good stock of JD square baler parts both new, used and rebuilt and repair service for balers. I have gotten parts there , good people to deal with. I was all set to post a reply with their information for you but I see you know about them already.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Sorry but if that's exemplary of the equipment you run you are NOT a "valuable customer."

How old is that baler? 40 years? 50? They're not making money off you. Not even if you bought that $400 PTO shaft. Reality is you are a nuisance, a pest.

How many of those PTO shafts do you think they sell in a year? They were going to sell one, until you decided it was too expensive. That's across the WHOLE Deere network. I would place a hefty wager that nobody else in the whole of North America went to a Deere dealer looking for that shaft.

Parts don't sit on the shelf for free. Every year new equipment comes out, so more parts to stock. Gotta expand the warehouse every year. There is a year-over-year cost to having that part sitting on the shelf, and like everything else right now, it's not getting any cheaper.

What you're paying for is the 40 years' worth of shelf space and the convenience that the original dealer can still supply the part.

I'm not coming down on Deere's side here, I just laying down some truth. People think it's price gouging, or Deere being mean. Its just the cost of doing business.

I'm glad you found an alternative. That would allow Deere to stop stocking these parts and cut their cost so maybe they don't have to charge so much for the parts they do supply.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Amtrak's last CEO came from Delta airlines. Their new fool is from Atlas Air.... though he did have a short stint at CSX. Not much of a consolation either way, for a company that's swirling around in the toilet bowl.

Mike

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Parts sit on the self because they are overpriced.Other companies make money on reasonably priced parts why not JD

 

[in-too-deep]

x2

 

[moresmoke]

That is why JD owns A and I. That same yoke is likely available from the JD dealer through A and I. This would be an example of the parts man loosing a sale, he could have offered that option, although the OP may not have given him enough info to make that connection.

 

[DoubleO7]

I will agree, it was and is price gouging.

But they are counting on the B.T.O. that does not ask what the price is.

Deere does not make every part of a machine so that it is unique and not offered by any other company.

So you have to spend some time to find the source such as Spicer or Weasler or Wix, etc.

 

[Northvale PA]

Waa waa. I am working my land to make money for me, not break even and make money for them. Fuel
and fertilizer has more than doubled in one year. So we all know what we are up against. As I said,
small firms are starting to fabricate the custom parts due to the price gouging. Case in point, these are
Amish made rock guards for the NI discbine, half the NI price and the exact fit. I only saved about $700.
When the mega Ag firms think like you describe, they will lose thousands of small sales and millions of
dollars. Oh well, maybe a recession is on the way and they will be laying people off next. Bad policies
dont lead to good results. By the way, made in China is starting to show up inside a lot of JD boxes.
Care to comment on that policy? And of course JD locks people out of repairing the expensive new stuff
too. So, sounds to me like indentured servitude? No thanks.

 

[JayinNY]

Yes my Baler is in the same age bracket as his, I bet if you go to John Deere and look at a brand new
baler! I guarantee you its made the same way? You really think they change square baler models every
year like they do cars in trucks?

 

[JayinNY]

Ok. Thank you

 

[big tee]

Good reply K---Tee

 

[ss55]

Another cost of carrying spare parts is that some of them will eventually remain unsold and have to be scrapped and written off for a huge loss. It is common practice to gradually increase the price of slow moving parts to increase the possible tax write off when the demand for parts for forty year old machines fades away and the spare parts must be scrapped.

 

[Buckeye Oliver collector]

A degree in health information.....What the, so he is a statistician?

 

[RodinNS]

My suggestion to you is that you invest in a few of those shafts because I can about guarantee you that the weasler stuff you just bought will not stand up. Weasler has a cheap line that many dealers stock and 'extended life' components that nobody keeps on the shelf... and the cheap stuff doesn't have the same power rating by about 20%. When you dig into their component catalogue, you will find those ratings and related information. If you're just putzing around making light bales it may work fine. If you push to what that baler can do you'll probably smoke the shaft in a day or two. I ended up going to a heavier driveline (35 series) rather than that 14 series because I could not keep crosses on my 327...
As far as Deere's part prices are concerned, there is a cost to carry them on the shelf, a cost in maintaining the parts system info that is huge and in the case of that part... the cost of having somebody prepare and weld that assembly. After you cut that broken yolk off the bar and pay yourself or someone else a wage to fit and weld the new one on there, the cost won't be nearly so far apart. If you do that yourself, I guess that's money in your pocket... but if you pay someone else, then you may still be ahead but not nearly so much.

Rod