Jake needed some parts for the Deere chopper. Nothing in the state of Iowa the Deere dealer could find.

Jake Googled up this place in Rock Valley, Iowa, and called them. A two hour drive but faster than waiting till tomorrow.





I think the bill was several hundred dollars cheaper.

Get you a can of Fluid Film when your at the JD dealer. It is ideal for your mixed material application.
https://www.fluid-film.com/

That looks like it's built to last

With the cost of new, a fellow has to patch up the old.

Aftermarket, that’s the polite way of saying pirate. My company fights pirates all the time. Sure the parts are cheaper but if you call me for tech support, the first thing I do is look up your account, if you aren’t buying from us, enjoy your cheap part and broke machine.

I get what you're saying but sometime OEM is flat out rape. For instance, trying to sort through some fuel related issues on a Yamaha 115 four stroke outboard. Factory mechanical fuel pump $220, high pressure fuel pump $370, injectors $160 ea. GTFOH with those prices. Bought a mechanical pump for $50 and entire set of injectors for $38 off Amazon. Some of us don't have an open checkbook to buy OEM parts. Maybe if their parts were more affordable and easily obtained we wouldn't have to resort to buying aftermarket.

That's one way to assure that you'd never get a dime of my business again and everyone I know would know about it. Keep that business practice up and eventually you won't have any, enjoy unemployment.

The chain with chair links, and belt held with bar stock, what is it used on! I'm familiar with the chain with flights, bolted to the chair links, for product moving! The chain i am used to is usually 160 and 140 size chain! That looks to be about 100 chain! Curious about the chain!

The chain with chair links, and belt held with bar stock, what is it used on! I'm familiar with the chain with flights, bolted to the chair links, for product moving! The chain i am used to is usually 160 and 140 size chain! That looks to be about 100 chain! Curious about the chain!

One of the plants I used to inspect made different bearing products.

I mentioned the cost of two pillow block bearings on something I had just made.
He laughed and said, "just be glad the were painted FFFF gray, not JJJJ green, they would have been twice as much."

Only difference was the paint on the paint line for the days production.

I have to say that is a really interesting shipping case for that chain.

Damn straight!

Opportunity for parts dept to make a sale.

People who buy on price alone will always buy on price so really we were never going to get your business. My company pays for the r&d. Do you think that is free ? I can diagnose anything from hydraulic issues to electrical issues over the phone. I can mentally tear that machine apart in my head and tell you how to put it back together.
Do you think I work for minimum wage ? Fixing stuff in person is one thing, fixing over the phone through the eyes of someone that couldn’t spell PLC or hydraulics is a whole different level. Now add to that the language barrier. That cost has to be borne somewhere.

It’s kinda easy to charge half of what OEM price when you don’t have the Engineering and customer support Cost.

I see what you are saying. Expertise isn't cheap.

But not sure I agree with that business philosophy.

My equipment and tractor dealer parts dept. offers me an aftermarket part when looking up something I need. Not only that, but they tell me whether the aftermarket is as good as, or sub-par to the OEM part.

That difference can be several hundred dollars.

Love my dealer. Wish I'd started buying equipment from them several years ago.

Hey Richard—you guys ever have to pour babbit bearings on any of your machinery?
I had a diesel mechanic checking out a 471 Detroit in a commercial fishing vessel. I mentioned that the stabilizer bearing on the 2 inch shaft needed replacing. He didn’t know what I was talking about.
Me and a old sawmill worker gonna pour a new one this afternoon.

The big equipment companies sub contract a LOT of parts.

If you buy aftermarket.....you are probably buying from the same supplier.

Just without the 1000% markup.

I understand where you are coming from. I am a consumer just like you. I just happen to see both sides from a very close vantage point.

Karl, I have not heard of pouring a babbit bearing for years.

Back when Noble was going great guns in Sac City, Iowa, they some made parts for the big machinery companies.

I've been told by shop foreman they call around to price parts other places, and stay competitive

Parts they call a closed item like a crankshaft that can not be bought elsewhere is where they really clean house on the costumers.

Oh, the belt, chains are on a three row John Deere chopper corn head.

Let’s see, guy on phone that knows what a door handle is for your 2000 GMC, OEM replacement cost $95.00 or spend $8.95 on aftermarket handle

https://www.amazon.com/Handle-Inter...&hvtargid=pla-682598551564&psc=1

Whose money do you want to spend? His or yours.

It's called free enterprise.

Wife is getting a new hip installed at this moment. OEM parts unavailable.

My shoulder, her hip. We gonna be the titanium twosome...

Nice try but not even close to the same scenario.

Be specific. $86.00 seems like a large disparity between OEM and aftermarket.

I sense a little bitterness..

Do you work on commission?


Lol.

Nope it isn’t. I bought a brand new (not reman) Made in Arkansas aftermarket starter for a 04 Grand Cherokee for 65 bucks. Cheapest OEM remanufactured was 193.00 plus core. Big difference.

Can remember when a valve lifter with a Chevrolet part # could be had for little over a dollar. The same lifter with a Cadillac part number was $5

I needed a electric window button assembly they were over $100.00 from GM. I bought on line for $18.00 from china... the one I took out was made in MEXICO AND ONLY LASTED 2 YEARS... the one from china is still working 8 years later... the Dealer woulden't replace it , said there was nothing wrong with it when I took it in for repair...He is a liar.

I am talking about support along with the part purchase. Call that place you bought the starter and ask them to spend 2 hrs on the phone to help you remove and replace it.
I have worked on these machines since 1993. When the customer talks to me, they know I am not reading out of a book. I have spent hours on the phone with a customer tearing apart the machine and helping them put it back together. I know everyone on here is a crack mechanic so that portion has little to no value. It cost the customer $160hr labor and 85/hr travel plus expenses for me to show up onsite. 8hr minimum if I get on an airplane. That comes out to about $3000-$3500 for one 8hr day onsite. To them, the phone support is factored into the part price and if needed, is well worth it.

And no, I don't work on commission. I am just an hourly employee.

If the OEM gets arts are so great, why am I replacing them?
Sometimes OEM makes sense. Many times it does not.
My wife has 130k on OEM Honda brake pads. An aftermarket set will last her about two oil changes.
An OEM fuel injector for my Tacoma was going to be about $300. The $50 one from eBay squirts fuel just fine.
Somehow I got by without phone support both times.

Swiftly, you need a calculator. The OEM part was over 10X the cost of the aftermarket, and that is a big difference.

Good for you, but the guy answering a phone for a part that is 10X the cost of the competition, isn’t worth the price of a cup of coffee. You must live in Fantasy Island if you think counter help makes any measurable difference. Most businesses today have such a ridiculous litany of phone prompts that a real person is as close as Mars. When you finally get that person, they are from Pakistan or Nigeria.

Pass me the aftermarket and hold the OEM.

So do you get help changing out that starter for the price you paid ?

Bad attitude, Wally. I spent more than a few years in the biz, Ford dealerships and the aftermarket as well. Parts sales are a big part of dealer income and buying parts from a dealer gets expensive real quick.

So, up yours.

My guess is you started out at a parts store out of high school and found contentment there. Ambitious? Not really, but someone has to answer the phone.

Meanwhile, the proliferation of aftermarket parts tells a bigger story you don’t get. Your advice on the phone may be comforting, but I would also guess it means more to you than it does to all the people that put those parts in a car.

LMAO, took 20 min to put it in. Works just damn dandy after 18 months.
What’s your specialty?
I worked on Siemens, GE Fanuc and AB. SCADA applications for water systems, high speed cartoners, film wrap, shrink wrap bundlers, conveyors, stretch wrappers and whole bunch of other sh*t someone else fugged up.
But thanks for the attitude.

No attitude here, just the way business works. I promise you, if I wasn’t courteous, polite to the customers, as well as knowledgeable, I wouldn’t have lasted 20 yrs and counting.

My life also revolves around unphucking things up. Sometimes it is in person, sometimes it is on the phone.

Machine repair , hydraulics, electrical 24vdc controls. AB , Siemens 3ph

If that was directed at me, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Of course not, but I’ll bet you didn’t have a football team on the campus of the college you attended to get your degree in counter intelligence.

I've found that aftermarket parts are usually of better quality.

My doctors, and myself have been trusting generic drugs for years.

Indeed. Sometimes OEM is the way to go, sometimes not so much.

Last time I replaced a tie rod on my wife's car, I looked at the dealer's and the local NAPA's offerings. The aftermarket part from NAPA I chose was superior. Thicker steel and a grease zerk. Not even close. Also, it was cheaper than the OEM part from the dealer.

If I wanted to cheap out, I would have gone to Rock Auto and gotten the cheapest replacement. I generally don;t go with the cheapest part for my autos, as we keep them a long time. Wife's car just turned over 200k miles and we have owned it from new.

Last, BRING BACK THE GREASE ZERKS on automobiles.