[AT] AT Cub - Update: Now JD Dealers

[Mitchell Daly]

Steve,

 You could have given them some Vaseline and told them where they could put that 20 year old machine!!

Mitch
md31043 at msn.com

________________________________
From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> on behalf of STEVE ALLEN <steveallen855 at centurytel.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2020 4:22 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] AT Cub - Update: Now JD Dealers

Mark,

Locally, we have Heritage tractor, but I haven't dealt with them yet.  I did buy some stuff from their predecessors (and *their* predecessors and THEIR predecessors, all of whom did OK by me).  I need to go by there someday just to poke around and get a feel for the place.

I haven't dealt with Sydenstricker--Nobbe, either, though I drive past the place in Dutzow a couple times/year (usually on the way to an ACW event).  I remember when that outfit was Schweissguth.  I never bought any thing from them, but I knew at least one of the brothers in passing through the local (MO-1) 2-Cylinder club.  They seemed like real decent chaps.  Of course, I am chagrined to count that up at 25+ years ago, now   :-O

'Way back when, there were two local dealers, Miner's Town in Rolla and Pitts in St. James.  We bought the '49 A from Pitt's on a rainy, cold Christmas Eve in 1984.  I remember with great joy driving it home one the service road by I-44 with Dad following behind with his flashers on.  A *great* Christmas present for Dad:  $600.  I gotta get on that flywheel job. . .

Anywho, since I have nothing new enough to worry about the Repairs Verboten issue, and I don't rely on my equipment to live on, dealer support is not crucial to me.  But I do appreciate it anytime a dealer will talk to a fellow who comes in asking about parts for a 70-year-old machine and doesn't laugh or throw him out.  I can't speak at all for any other color, but I have had some good luck with that with the green-and-yellow guys.  In fact, better luck than I've had with the Bowtie guys (got tossed off the lot once at a GMC dealer back when my '67 was only 20 years old--it embarrassed them to have it parked by their building in public view).

The "original" Steve Allen


----- Original Message -----Message: 8
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2020 14:06:35 -0500
From: Mark Johnson <markjohnson100 at centurylink.net>
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: Re: [AT] Cub - Update
Message-ID: <96d09a42-9b5c-929d-e6a3-1d956df1a0d6 at centurylink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"

Where Deere & Co. lost me has nothing to do with antique tractors at
all, but rather with their service and maintenance policy for today's
highly software-driven ag machinery. They have effectively put a 'No
User-Serviceable Parts Inside. Warranty void if seal is broken' sign on
their tractors, and with the destruction of the network of small local
(some would say mom-and-pop) dealers, a simple failure can be a
multi-day adventure in high-tech repairs. I'm not sure if it is true for
the whole country, but this policy has been upheld by courts in California.

One of my sources works for one of those now-former JD dealers. Deere
offered to buy back their inventory, with a one-time deal, and told them
that they didn't *have* to sell everything back (tractors, implements,
and parts) but that they would get no factory support for anything they
sold after the cutoff date. The 'word on the street' is that Deere & Co.
wants to have regional dealers with at least 6 outlets, and that more
than that is even better. At the same time they got bought out, the big
regional dealer in Missouri (Sydenstricker) merged with Nobbe...the
combined dealership has locations in 26 towns in Missouri and Illinois.
It's virtually impossible to avoid them in central to north/eastern MO
and southwestern IL. [That said, I've never tried to deal with them
myself...]

Mark J
Columbia, MO

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