John Deere Techs

Oh no i,m getting phased out because i,m old.
I know what you are saying deer98. At this dealership there is very few that can use Service Advisor, but they are certified and they go to schools, but it"s me or the tech. that works in the first shop that works on the latest equipment. I will say that i'm in school every day. John Deere gives the tech. and any employees that work at a dealership school everyday, there is Latest Solutions, What's New, Bulletin board, DTAC which is somebody you can talk to from JD with a problem and also look up problems of that machine, Parts solutions and many others. Everybody should do this to make there job better. There is a great opportunity and rewarding to be a tech. of the future.

And this from somebody that had a bad two days, repaired a transmission or i think i did but had to take it back out and then did find the problem. YES

I worked with a lot of different techs in the ten years I was with Deere and natural mechanical ability is the most important trait of a good tech. Schooling/training alone cannot make a good mechanic. I worked with several "certified" techs that had trouble with even simple jobs.

There's no way that poor excuse for a tech should have been sent to work on your tractor. Service managers/shop foremans should know the abilty of their techs and assign jobs accordingly.

That said, every tech has to start somewhere. I started at the local dealer when I was 18 and still in high school. I would PDI garden tractors and do oil changes. After a year and a half I was sent to Ag Tech. All of the 14 guys in class passed the course, but it was easy to tell that not all of them would make a career out of it. 8 years later less than half are still techs and only a few with Deere. Dealers just can't seem to hang on to trained techs.

deeremanager,

Generally, that's what I'd have done, but if you spend $13,000 on an engine-job, and then the head comes loose, I think it's best for the dealer to "deal with it".

Thanks for all your comments guys!

Just an update:
The seal they put in blew after 2 hours again. Found out they had stuck silicone on the head gasket (yes, I was there when it was being put on, but the gasket was already on the block, and seems the guy put the silicone between it and the block). So, the tractor went in, again... They took the head off, but this time I wanted to see the d**n thing. Guess what? The fire-ring had worn a slight groove into the head, and at the point were the first gasket blew, you could see/feel erosion marks. I told the (get this!) service manager, and he kept saying, "oh no, it'll be fine - they are too small, no problem, no problem, I'll guarantee it's going to work!" I drove it home, and by the time it rolled into the yard, it was leaking again...

Oh, and as for newer equipment, they actually ship the stuff with "computer bugs" (their words, not mine) to a different JD dealership 2 hrs away...

That's what you get for living in the parkland.