# Deere Parts not Exactly Cheap?



## Lawn Ranger (Jul 16, 2017)

Is it my imagination, or are John Deere parts just a wee bit expensive for what you get?

My mower deck has some pins that hold the wheels on. Just pins, maybe 3/8" thick and 2" long, with a round head and a hole for a clevis pin. The cheapest price I've seen is about $7. You can get similar items at a hardware store for maybe a buck.

My pins are eaten away by the friction of the deck against their sides. I need to get new ones or fix the ones I have. I can't help resenting the price.

I'm thinking I may fill the cuts up with weld and then either smooth the pins down with a file or put them on the lathe.

I got a Tricycler mulching kit, which contains what looks like $100 worth of parts, and I paid about $270. HELLO, CHINA! I have a product for you to knock off!


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

If you paid yourself minimum wage, how much would the repair of each of those pins cost you? Let's ignore the capital costs of your Equipment for simplicities sake...

Most of Deere's hardware is standard size. (Machines built post-1992 are predominately metric) but there are quite a few items unique to them, gauge wheel axles and spindles being among them.

Having worked behind a green and yellow parts counter for a few years, there are some items that seem pretty pricey and others are downright reasonable. I remember $120+ blade spindle assemblies for AYP equipment like Husqvarna, Craftsman, Poulan, weed-eater, etc. These were fragile cast-aluminum housings with long, easily bent shafts that would instantly turn into scrap metal upon the mere sight of roots or rocks in your lawn. While I'm not advocating running any mower over such, comparable replacement part cost for a Deere of similar stature was about $45-75.

Try to remember those pins have likely survived decades of service thus far. Along with the rest of the machine. That's a lot less common on units that are assembled with dollar store hardware. &#128521;


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

The cost of a brand part is more than just the manufacturing of the part. The vendor has to keep a very good inventory of *all* the parts, diagrams, warehouse, detail manuals. They also have to make a profit to stay in business.


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## GrassFarmer (Sep 21, 2017)

How about $1200 for a little diesel fuel lift pump for a 8430 Deere now thats outrageous and it craped out at 1200hr thats pretty bad.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

High costs seem to be the norm when repairing equipment with small engines.

I rode quads (atv) for many years and the cost of parts both factory and aftermarket were outrageous when compared to automotive parts.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

This is why I sold my last lawn tractor. Got old and expensive to keep running and a new payment was cheaper than parts month to month.


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## Lawn Ranger (Jul 16, 2017)

"If you paid yourself minimum wage, how much would the repair of each of those pins cost you? "

I could do all of them in about 20 minutes, so not a whole lot.


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