John Deere Parts Policy

[jd40b]

A while back I seen that the John Deere parts stocking policy was for 10 years after built then one part had to be sold per year to keep stocking it.
Recently i heard that if they had 3 requests for an obsolete part they had to start making it again.


I was wondering if that was true?
If so how do you go about it?
Thanks.

[Lavoy]

There is no "requirement" to make an obsolete part, and once a part is listed as obsolete, extrememly unlikely that it will ever enter production again, at least on the OEM side.
The 3 times turn figure you have been told is normally what any given dealer considers the minimum sales volume to justify keeping a part on the shelf.
Lavoy

[Willyr]

Most parts are still available. Alas if you want something from the dealer, you will pay their price for a quantity and he wont stock the extra. You get the whole kit and caboodle. I had to replace a valve adjuster on my 60. It would cost me $300 through the dealer to buy 5 of them. Since I only needed one, I contacted a reputable salvage yard instead ($25+10 for freight).

[Tigerhaze]

Parts availability from Deere is variable- it is usually better for filters and gaskets and worse for unique hard parts. You have better chances of finding a part if it is common to more than one crawler (or common to both crawlers, skidders, and tractors) than if specific to only one model of crawler.

For instance, some hard parts on 2010 crawlers are no longer available (NLA) and a big problem with them is the rails (track links) for 1010s/early 2010s are NLA as well as the late model 2010 sprockets. Thus conversion to 350 rails on 2010s is a problem unless you can find used late model sprockets and if your early rails are bad then you really have a problem. Unfortunately 2010 sprocket centers cannot be rerimmed with 350 sprocket rims like other early models.

Deere does keep some things on shelves for a long time- last year I bought a gasket for my 2010 that came in a 1970s box- the dealer was remarking that the box might be worth more than the gasket