I want to share a tractor story with you all, its got noting to do with tractors

[Texacon]

Yes, it's another bouncy ...

Tue Jun 25, 2013, 01:58 PM

Star Member 1-Old-Man (1,696 posts)

I want to share a tractor story with you all, its got noting to do with tractors.
I wanted to share a story an old friend told me yesterday. We were chatting and the discussion got around to tractors in general, he and I have similar but different models, and he told me about an incident with the a large local tractor and implement Dealership.

He wanted to do some finish mowing with his machine so he had bought himself a new turf mower. This is no small thing, the attachment cost a bit over five grand. So you can imagine his disappointment when he first used it and discovered it was mowing unevenly. Of course it had a warranty on it so he called the dealer and soon enough they sent out one of their service crews, which consisted of two mechanics in a truck, with their tools. The mechanics pulled the mower off the tractor and wrestled it around and got if flipped over to get a look at its underside. Pretty quickly they discovered that one of the mower's three blades was installed up-side-down. This is a pretty stupid mistake to have made during assembly. All of these mowers arrive at the Dealership disassembled, so its as likely as not that the same mechanics who came out and found the problem were the guys who days earlier had assembled it backwards in the first place. That said, back at the farm the mechanics couldn't actually accomplish the rather simple fix because they didn't have the right sized wrench with them (on the service truck) to get the errant blade off. So they loaded up the mower to take back to the Dealership, telling my friend that they would deliver it back within a couple of days.

My friend was not very happy about these events so the next day he called the Dealership and complained to the owner that this sort of nonsense shouldn't happen. The owner agreed, but this is what he told my friend. 'Yeah, I know, this shouldn't have happened. They should have put it together right in the first place and then at least they should have been able to fix it in place during the service visit. But I can only afford to pay those guys $8.00 an hour and you just don't get much talent for that much money'.

And when my friend told me that I had to ask, how in hell could you ever go back to that dealership again? He replied, 'I couldn't believe he would say that to a customer, I'd have come up with any lie before I'd say something like that'.

This dealership is thriving, the owner has opened up two additional dealerships and is making money hand over fist. And in my mind this is representative of much of the business world today.

PS: Without naming names, all real tractors are green.

Ok, so his neighbor probably shopped and got the best deal for his money, no big deal (I'm treating this as if I believe it).

madokie (36,980 posts)

6. Says it all,

Does it not?
But I can only afford to pay those guys 8 bucks an hour while I make millions, is how the rest of the sentence should have been.

Ok madokie, how do you know he's making MILLIONS?  And what if he is?  Sounds to me like he had TWO guys making $8.00/hour and now he has 6 guys making $8.00/hour since he spent some of his MILLIONS opening up 2 more stores.  So are you going to tell me that this guy putting more people to work locally is a bad thing?  Are you saying he should have stayed small and paid these 2 guys, who can't even put a freaking lawn mower blade on the right way and don't know enough to pack all their tools, $24.00/hour and not hired the other 4?  Not to mention how many OTHER people he had to hire to run 2 more stores.

Please madokie, come over here to CC and school us on how this man should have spent the purported MILLIONS he's made on his successful business.  I'm sure you've got loads of business experience we can all benefit from.  Loser.

okaawhatever (963 posts)

7. I agree with your/his frustration. I have a push and riding "greene machine" that I paid

a lot of money for. I do that for quality. If the local dealer removes that quality to save a few bucks, what good does it do me? Can you imagine what he pays his mechanics? Nice of that dealer to risk my investment so he can save a few bucks. That won't cut it. Yes, I did go there.

Yeah, I'm sure your dealer is paying guys to do jobs like that $75,000/year.  

New thread.

KC

[Carl]

From the voice of personal experience you can take my word that not a bit of this is true.

[ExGeeEye]

Oh, deere....

[EagleKeeper]

Well, I think a bit of it might be true.

I bought a brand new green tractor mower from a local home improvement warehouse.

See, the way it was explained to me was that the green mowers are delivered to the home improvement warehouses disassembled and that the only way that they get assembled is that a crew from the local dealership come over and put them together.  

Any warranty work goes back to the local dealer.

In my case a three week old green tractor mower was slipping the belt that drives the rear wheels. It was in the dealers shop for four weeks and no work had been done.

[Big Dog]

Tue Jun 25, 2013, 01:58 PM

Star Member 1-Old-Man (1,696 posts)

The oldfella DUmmy lied...... poorly.

[ChuckJ]

Funny. I was actually doing some work for a guy today, and as I worked we began talking about tractors. I can't remember what brought it up, but he said after his last experience with Deere that you couldn't pay him to own another one.

He didn't care how much the owner was making or how much the employees were paid. He just wasn't happy with the tractor.

[Wineslob]

From the voice of personal experience you can take my word that not a bit of this is true.

This.


DUmmies lie, they lie all the time.

[jukin]

I find this very hard to believe. A mower blade is a consumable and needs constant maintenance/sharpening/replacement. When I design equipment regularly changed or consumables, these are made so they only go in one way. Could the service guys ground off an orientation tab or key? Sure but I doubt it.

I also find the $8/hr person is putting together high liability pieces of equipment. Also doubt that there was not an inspector or QA person to makes sure all went correctly with the build. Service calls are expensive in time/materials and reputation. Also guess that sending out $8/hr fellows to interact with customers is happening. Stock boy, lot boy, etc sure $8/hr.

Clearly the democrats are starting a push to increase the minimum wage or we wouldn't see a terrible bouncy like this.

So all in all I give this 0 BONGS.

If this fable happened the owner probably said you don't get much anymore for $20/hr.

[EagleKeeper]

Images of John Deere mower blades.

https://www.google.com/search?q=john+deere+mower+blades&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=-PXJUez2Iq6FyQHdj4HYDw&biw=1366&bih=617&sei=_PXJUda6JqPYyAHekIDYAQ

I'm having a problem seeing machinings that prevent putting the blade on the wrong way.

Personally, the only problem I have with Deere is the people they have out in the field.

I don't think it's Deere, I think they make fantastic lawn tractors, the one I bought was great.

It's the service that Deere depends on, it sucks and it sucks bad.

[Texacon]

Images of John Deere mower blades.

https://www.google.com/search?q=john+deere+mower+blades&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=-PXJUez2Iq6FyQHdj4HYDw&biw=1366&bih=617&sei=_PXJUda6JqPYyAHekIDYAQ

I'm having a problem seeing machinings that prevent putting the blade on the wrong way.

Personally, the only problem I have with Deere is the people they have out in the field.

I don't think it's Deere, I think they make fantastic lawn tractors, the one I bought was great.

It's the service that Deere depends on, it sucks and it sucks bad.

Yeah, it's there.  See how the blades are bent down on the sides?

That should prevent it from being put on upside down.

KC

[DumbAss Tanker]

If there were any truth to it at all, I'd choke on the tractor owner not having the tools and know-how to remove and re-install the blade correctly, once the workers identified the problem, which as jukin notes is an operator-level maintenance task.  Must've picked the tractor for the color, without knowing how much extra 'green' costs.

[Texacon]

Yeah, it's there.  See how the blades are bent down on the sides?

That should prevent it from being put on upside down.

KC

Color me shocked ... and WRONG.  I just ran a search on putting lawn mower blades on upside down and evidently it can be done.  I've never done it but I'm not a total moron either.  I mean, how difficult would it be to look at the blade and know the sharp end needs to be closer to the ground?

(I didn't look to see if this could be done with all brands.)

KC

[EagleKeeper]

I just got off the phone with my dad, he's own'd JD mowers longer then I.

He said that while not impossible it is difficult.

Fine, I'm good with that.

I have a problem with Deere, I would't buy another one ever.

That's just me, you want a Deere, go do it, I'd probably go for a Toro.

[Carl]

First off,no dealership is going to send 2 men on a service call to work on a freaking finish mower,they would have to be idiots.
Second,not a chance in the world a service man is going to hit the road without the impact socket needed,air compressor and impact wrench to remove one.
Lastly the costs of having a trained service person is enormous,as is the cost of the service truck...you don`t waste training and time on a person and then pay them minimum wage.
If there is any truth to it,it was bought from a gypsy fly by night outfit not an actual established dealer.

[EagleKeeper]

Well, my mower broke down and I discussed it the dealership. They decided to send one guy and a flatbed.

[Texacon]

I just got off the phone with my dad, he's own'd JD mowers longer then I.

He said that while not impossible it is difficult.

Fine, I'm good with that.

I have a problem with Deere, I would't buy another one ever.

That's just me, you want a Deere, go do it, I'd probably go for a Toro.

No thank you.  I own one of these;



It works just fine for what I do.

KC

[Mr Mannn]

Two farmers were at a bar...and one was crying.
"Why so sad?" asked the second farmer.
"My tractor left me!"
"Uhhhh. OK. What makes you think your tractor left you?"
"I got a John Deere letter!"




and that was much more believable that the OP.

[diesel driver]

Tue Jun 25, 2013, 01:58 PM

Star Member 1-Old-Man (1,696 posts)

...PS: Without naming names, all real tractors are green.

All I had to read to know 1-Old-DUmbass was lying.

I'm a fan of the IH brand.  Born and raised on the Big Red.

If it ain't RED, it stays in the shed!   

[JohnnyReb]

I've had a green 38", 14 horse, JD lawn mower for 22 years. Cut 3 1/2 acres every week during grass season and then a little bit of other use. Never had a problem with the "Cowey-Sockey" engine...never had the spark plug out of it....never touched the engine and it still cranks quickly, doesn't use any oil between annual changes, just great. It was a higher dollar, more sturdy, heavier built than the usual JD lawn mower when I bought it. The mower deck was twice as thick as the other cheaper models, the frame was heavier as was the front axle. The blade spindles were greaseable and I greased them regularly.

Here's what I've had to do to it. About 5 years ago, I had to put tubes in all the tires. They had gotten so old and rotten they wouldn't stay inflated between cuttings. Two years ago after 20 years of  use, one blade spindle went bad, the heavy deck was still good, so I spent $200 for new pulley/spindles, belts and blades.....cut like new......quiet as could be.....then the old plastic parts started breaking up. First was the blade switch....now, I just stick my finger down in the hole that's left to engage the blade. Then the plastic throttle handle broke, so I screwed a piece of wood to it.....then the  plastic brake lock that keeps the parking off broke so, I wired that up with some single strand copper wire...then while I was raising the plastic hood to fix the brake lock problem....it broke and fell off....looks bad without a hood but still works just fine without a hood....then the spring thingy, where ever it is, that locks the blade lift mechanism up broke and I haven't devised a redneck, poor white trash fix for that yet.

SO LAST WEEK I BOUGHT A NEW MOWER....an orange "husky-Vonner" zero turn with a 24 horse "Cowey-Sockey" engine and a heavy duty, greaseable, fabricated deck. I could have bought a Cub Cadet for a couple thousand less with a "Colder" engine and tin deck but I bought one that I hope will last until I need the grass cut over my grave. I am now having just a bit of buyers remorse....wish I had just went on and spent a couple more thousand for a FERRIS.

[GOBUCKS]

In 2007, I gave away a John Deere lawn tractor that I bought in 1982 or 3.

It was running perfectly, but I decided I'd rather hire a man than do it myself in the heat of red state hell.

The guy I gave it to is still using it once or twice a week, and it's still running perfectly.

No maintenance except changing oil once a year, belts and blades every five or ten years.

I can't believe the deck hasn't rusted through, but it hasn't.

That Deere is a beast. If I were to buy a new tractor, I wouldn't even consider a different brand.

[obumazombie]

Nothing runs like a...

[AprilRazz]

This is just another bouncy where the primitive gets to brag that he and his neighbors are able to drop thousands on an implement to cut grass. All while the poor subway cat can't afford to turn it's girl parts into boy cat parts.

[obumazombie]

This is just another bouncy where the primitive gets to brag that he and his neighbors are able to drop thousands on an implement to cut grass. All while the poor subway cat can't afford to turn it's girl parts into boy cat parts.

Life is so unfair when you're a lib.

[ConservativeMobster]

My Dad tows my JD with his Murray, often. 

I'm not a mechanic but I shouldn't have to be.

[BattleHymn]

In 2007, I gave away a John Deere lawn tractor that I bought in 1982 or 3.

It was running perfectly, but I decided I'd rather hire a man than do it myself in the heat of red state hell.

The guy I gave it to is still using it once or twice a week, and it's still running perfectly.

No maintenance except changing oil once a year, belts and blades every five or ten years.

I can't believe the deck hasn't rusted through, but it hasn't.

That Deere is a beast. If I were to buy a new tractor, I wouldn't even consider a different brand.

My dad has an early 70's JD 210 that he has mowed with since I was too little to remember.  I fully expect it to still be running when he passes on.

The new ones aren't built the same- not even close.