you're not alone..There are 2 clamps that hold my tank fountain auger into its upright working position...the auger folds down to get the combine in the barn...

anyway, i figured that the clamps would normally cost about $10 each, but I was in a hurry and did not want to hunt them down, so I went to JD, and figured that from Deere they would cost about $20 each. Well, I was completely wrong! Come to find out, they will not even sell the little hinge clamps by themselves. They said the only way I could get the clamps was to purchase the whole hinge assembly...and that was going to cost just under $1000 (that is not a misprint...I said one-thousand dollars)

Needless to say, I did not take 'em up on that offer. Someone here told me about Carr Lane.
http://www.carrlane.com/Catalog
Oh yeah, the technical name for these clamps is "adjustable u-bolt clamps". Seems like they were about $12 each, and they are heavier than the crap that John Deere uses. We're all in this BS over-priced parts game together! Thievery is not limited to the color red...or green..or....

 

I thought you guys knew - the paint is the expensive part.

Seriously, the prices you guys are listing are just stupid expensive. Wow.

-Lance

 

yup, that kinda stuff sucks, i cant remember the exact numbers,but my boss last year ran a 936 D JD draper header, and 2 Mac don 36 ft draper headers, to change the middle canvas on the mac don was like 5-600 or something along those lines, whereas the deere's was around $1200

 

Lance......what paint???????????? LOL

This was "galvinized!

Yes, we all have to pay toooooo much for these repairs and most of the time you hear the familiar reponse..."We'll have to order that for you"

Makes no difference, Red or Green!

 

It also depends on the dealership. All dealerships have their own mark-up on the parts and such.

 

Dealers here CNH & JD parts run 10-12% over list, brake caliper for a 9370- $1500, repair kit for brake master cylinder $160 what a deal, an they wonder why we don't give them any sympathy!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have found its more the dealers also my local dealer has 14 stores and braggs about parts but they have their own Central Warehouse where they store all the parts so they add on there own S+H cost which make their parts about 20 % higher compared to the 1 single family owned dealer

 

Parts prices have went up more than 50% in the last 2 years. I buy about 75,000 dollars worth of red parts every year and it boggles my mind what prices have done. Check auger prices and some of them raised 100 dollars from last fall. I can remember tractor part prices in the last 30 years and it is crazy. A tractor relief valve 25 years ago was 85 dollars and now it is over 200. heck I thought 85 was too much.

 

For the most part I would tend to agree. But the other day I got a surprise. I picked up rear chaffer frame hanger from the local dealer for a 9600 I was working on. That's the one with 3 pressed-in rubber bushings. It updates to the 50 series piece, which is a thick casting instead of the mild steel original. I figured at least $200, but for the trouble of pressing in new bushings, it might be worth it. I was shocked when they told me $70. And that's Can$. In US$ that's about $55. WTF

Another situation: Had a sieve falling apart on a 9750. Priced through Deere- $800. Called Loewen as well, thinking maybe I could save the customer a few bucks. They were $900! Isn't the point of aftermarket parts to save money?

 

PRICES are going up and there is nothing we can do. to bad this happens and I don't even like.

 

Aftermarket parts are not just meant to be cheaper, they generally have some other improvement on them which can some times make them more expensive but better value...

Jono

 

this thread should be All Parts are overpriced

 

Lol i got new L1 Hurricane WAAS antenna today, parts guy didn't realize that the little threaded pipe and magnetic base was sold separately. After seeing it was 168$ he didn't order it... figured i could make one for 10$. He figured right! Honestly!!!

 

What I am about to say may not be popular but please read on.

There is a fundamental difference between how a farmer / contractor looks at parts and how a dealer looks at parts. Parts to farmers is a service that is always to expensive and always should be under warranty (sweeping generalization there) and to a dealer it is a profit making business (and rightfully so).

Most farmers do not fully appreciate the cost to the dealer of carrying the parts stock that they all take for granted, and complain when something is not available at their local dealer. Parts are a HUGE cost to a dealership and until they are sold they are dead money. For all the varied product lines that a dealership carries we expect them to carry parts for. With new models out all the time the number of parts lines that a dealer is "expected" to carry can be huge.

Consider this. For your dealer to afford to be carrying $250,000 worth of parts (cost to the dealer) they would need to sell 12 - 15 new combines just to cover the cost of the parts stock (working on todays fairly skinny margins). This does not take into consideration the associated overheads of running the dealership - wages, vehicles running costs, vehicle purchasing costs, facility rent/maintainance, warranty costs, depreciation, etc etc etc. And bearing in mind that $250,000 worth of parts would be at the low end of the scale. In most cases this is money that is borrowed on overdraft etc so there is a interest cost associated with this also around 8 - 10% per annum.

Parts pricing is generally worked out on a simple formula. Cost of manufacture (inc R and D time etc ammatized over the life expectancy of the machine) plus a desired profit margin (taking in to account the average time that it takes for the parts to be sold - carrying time) plus dealer margin plus handling and freight charges. Most dealers don't make huge money out of parts and expect that these need to be there as a service to their customers.

Most guys will complain about the cost of parts, but how much would guys be willing to pay for a part when their machine is broken down and out of service. How much will you complain when your local dealer goes broke and you have to add the cost of further travel onto the cost of parts.

At the end of the day you need your dealers to make enough money on parts to be able to carry the amount of parts that you need and provide the level of service that you deserve.

i will be interested in the responses that I get to this post.

Jono

 

Jono, you are exactly right. If my machine breaks and I need a replacement part the same day, then I pay a premium for that. At a local dealer, that premium is built into the retail cost of the part due to the overhead of keeping a parts warehouse full.

One way to help make this work better would be to reduce the amount of parts any dealer would need to keep on hand (as in make more parts common between machines). For a simple example, if all machines came with the same size of oil filter, then the dealer would only need to keep a stack of that one filter size. Obviously this goes on and on, but within reason. Case does a decent job of this, but every company has room for improvment. For all the years that the axial flow combines have been around, how many total sizes of rotor belts are there? 3 or 4? At least they don't change them every year, as that would make each of them very expensive to stock at a dealer.

-Lance

 

Yesterday. I ran into another example of the high cost of parts....BUT... this item goes on MY machine. In my initial post, this sieve item was going on the machine that I sold and not getting boo coo $'s out of it, I didn't think I could justify a new $510 pan for a machine that was "going down the road".

The item that I ordered yesterday, the wiring harness that goes acrossed the back of the sieve for the seed loss moniter boards costs $131...BUT...I will pay this as this is for my "new to me"(2188) combine and that I plan on keeping for quite some time.

I don't have a problem with the dealer making a profit. I knew going into this that they wouldn't have it in stock so it had to be ordered, which at this time of year is no big deal. The thing that bothers me is, how can 6 lenghts of wire that are each 6ft long(which all came off the same BIG economy sized spool), that are run through a protective covering and have a 1/2 of a plastic weather-pak attached, cost that kind of money?

Sure, I could of tried to repair the "bad" section, but beings this is MY machine, I will bite the bullet and pay the price!

 

jono, I agree with you 100% any parts dealers stock for farmers machines should come @ a price for dealers to make a living (not a killing) I don't have a problem paying that premuim, but during the off season when going thru the machines I bring in a list for some high dollar parts an I want to pay up front an these parts are to be ordered, you might get a 3% discount an they think their doing you a big favor, these parts don't come with any added cost of being on a shelf in their inventory, there comming from the depot, parts are the money maker for a dealer, CIH dealer from years pass told me he didn't care if he sold a lot of red equipment as long as everyone else did cause he new they would need parts!!!!!!

 

You chaps are lucky, I tend to buy expensive parts from the US now as in England they are usually twice the price. For example the pto shaft which goes into the flywheel $392.00 US price and about $1450.00 UK price. Saved about $2000.00 by buying this, the clutch plate and hydro input shaft and pulley bush. Shipping was 2 days via UPS and cost $140.00

 

This is something tha we see in Aus also. I know that the USD list on parts really blows out into Aus. By the time you add shipping, Australian HQ's profit, dealer profit and the cost of the currency conversion our parts are generally 2 -2.5 time the USD price.

And you guys complain..........

Jono

 

Had to buy a gang axle for our case disk we're putting new blades on. Its about 40" long and solid steel, thought it'd be $200 pleasently suprised was only $66. We'll make more then that scrapping the old blades. Even buying parts cash flows sumtimes.

 

Great to see such animated discussion. I guess at the end of the day all everyone wants is to feel that they are getting value for their parts dollar. This value must not just be for the actual part but also the expert advice offered by the dealer and the overall level of support that they feel they get.

Keep it going.

Jono

 

Jono is exactly right. I personally stand on both sides of the counter. Every fall I hear "What do you mean you don't have that?" I currently try to carry parts for 715s to AFX8010s and that is just in the combine line.
We are a single store dealer between two large multi store dealers and cannot possibily carry the inventory of the larger stores . We try to keep our customers going by keeping longer hours , transfering parts from other dealers and utilizing faster ordering parameters offered by Case IH, but even these are costly and often still not fast enough.