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John Deere Does'nt Rebuild Starters???

D

Deere Scotty

Member
Went to the local dealer with a starter, & they sent me somewhere else today. Last time I looked... Every single John Deere tractor made in the last 50 years has a starter. Dealers have service departments, & they send You somewhere else!!! They were glad to price a new starter at $691, & were glad to order the rebuild parts kit at $180; But when I asked them how much to rebuild the whole thing; They looked at me like was an Iranian asking about flight lessons! They told me they could do it; But for a clear conscience its best to go elsewhere! I went elsewhere, & am paying $225 for it. Why even keep a sevice Dept?
 
The margins are too narrow. You can't compete Dealership service shop. With a bunch of un-skilled labours "re-building" starters on a production line. Or in some sweat shop.
 
No body is rebuilding starters anymore around my area. I think the problem is it costs more to have them rebuilt than to just buy a rebuilt one from somewhere like NAPA.
 
Careful now. I catch the Holy Wrath of God every time I criticize these "we're John Deere,we don't have to" dealers.
 
Find a good local electrical service place. I have a great one. Take them all of my starter and generator work.

I wouldn't go to JD for that kind of work anyway.
 
well gee whiz,john deere dealer doesnt recap my tires,or repair my radiator.what is this world coming too.
 
Starter generator rebuilding is considered a specialty shop item . To many headaches and other issues for a dealer to do it profitably . Same as radiators .
 
guess I'm lucky, we have an auto parts store with a machine shop that does rebuild starters and generators and alternators. They do a good job and usually cheaper than an over the counter new one. I wouldn't ever buy a rebuilt one over the counter. Same for water pumps, pressure plates, clutches.
 
Have a great magneto shop in Mitchell. Ron will rebuild anything you got while his wife cuts your hair in the barbershop half of the building. Works for me.
 
How odd, I just took a Honda tractor starter into my local shop after pricing a new unit ($430).

I am quite observant yet I saw no unskilled 'labours', no production line, no excessive sweat was noted.

Actually all I dealt with was a guy named Dave who rebuilt my starter overnight and charged me the princely sum of $35.00

Writer would benefit from linking rhetoric with some shred of reality.

Brad Buchanan
 
I know of no dealer, car, truck, heavy equipment or tractor that rebuilds starters, generators, alternators, etc., and haven't for decades.

Dean
 
There is only one Dave per 25,000 people if you find him (or Doris) only tell others if they need more business. Jim
 
before he passed away there was a mechanic that worked for a local IH dealer that i use to call upon when i could figure out a problem,he was an exceptionally good mechanic he told me that they rebuilt almost everything in house when he was working there but times had changed ,though i don't totally agree with him he referred to the mechanics of today as parts changers
 
That depends on the dealer. Two of my sons work for separate JD dealers. One son does mostly tires (all sizes), balers, and estate tractors, the other dealer (larger town) has theirs done in a tire shop in town.
 
I rebuilt starters, generators alternators, waterpumps etc all the time at dealership. New owners come along, oh , we don't do that. Wellllll. I left and went down the street where they repaired starters, waterpumps, generator, but liked to put on rebuilt alternators. Can't win them all. I will say this. The parts the dealer gets to repair units are not the parts they originally were. Near impossible to get quality armatures and field coils. The ones you get are inferior so it is difficult. I personally would not give up a original starter off a larger tractor as you will never ever get one to equal it. So, if it can be repaired I would pay more for that than one that has been rebuilt fifty times already.
 
We had an IH dealer that had two mechanics who rebuilt starters, alternators and gennys until the dealer closed a few years ago. They would not rebuild one if the cost was getting glose to buying a rebuilt unit. After the dealer closed those two mechanics bought the building and have a farm tractor repair buisiness there now, and are still rebuilding this stuff. I've rebuilt the starter on my 630 Deere a few times with the last time being the armature. A new armature was around $120. A rebuilt was somewhere in the $850 range but I might be wrong on that. The only part of that starter that's original is the main case and fields. Jim
 
It has been a long, LONG time since I have even heard of dealership anything doing component rebuilding. It's getting very rare these days to find ~any~ auto electric rebuilders in town. Be glad you found one. They've basically all folded around here. The harsh reality is that to get a quality rebuild of any depth on most starters or alternators and charge their normal shop rate for labor... the cost is greater than a new china or india made starter. Plain and simple.
Today... if you want to rebuild a starter it's basically in the rhealm of you tearing it down yourself, filing the commutator and cleaning it up with emery cloth, sticking new bruses and a bushing in and putting it back to work. If it needs winding or even needs a switch... in most cases it's not worth the effort.
I've had 42MT's rebuilt that cost more to rebuild than a new one could be bought for...

Rod
 
Shop labor rates are $70-90 per hour in this area. A tech who doesn't do starters all teh time would probably spend an hour tearing on down and cleaning it up, plus the cost of components, which would have to be ordered adn shipped.

I'd imagine it would be a $300 proposition by the time it was all said and done.

Local rebuild shops are loosing a lot of business when you can go to advance auto and get a drive works new(not reman) 10DN alternator for $34. the bridge rectifier for a 10SI is $20. labor to put one in is 1/2 hour at $60 per hour, so you would need a 50 dollar bill to repair a $34 alternator. Definitely a loosing battle...

Since I do rebuild my own components, I can tell you that sometimes it is cheaper to buy a new one than to rebuild the old one. Tractor parts sometimes come with a hefty price tag, but are the same components as automotive (going by model number of teh component) So it sometimes benefits me to just buy the automotive component, and if it fails prematurely, I am still ahead of the game.
 
Rebuilding starters and alternators is a lost art. I haven"t done an actual rebuild other than something for myself for at least 15 years...
 
Does your local NH, Cummins, Freightshaker dealership/whatever rebuild starters?
 
Not only do most dealerships not rebuild starters, there are fewer independent repair shops as well. You need a fair amount of special equipment to do it properly, and it's difficult to make money rebuilding starters when most folks just go to the auto parts store and exchange for 100 bucks. (Yes, your tractor starter is much more expensive, but 90 percent of the business is automotive.)

It's pretty much the same with everything. When was the last time you took a TV set in for repair?
 
As stated it is a dying art like rebuilding wheel cylinders, brake calipers and carbs. I found out the other day our local Toyota dealership doesn't rebuild transmissions anymore. They just R&R the units. Gerard
 
Hate to disagree with you. But I am a mechanic from the old school. I have seen mechanics go from the ones that could rebuild just about anything. To ones that can only change out the part that the little box tells them to. Nothing more.

My son has a friend that is an ASE certified engine tech. Didn't know what points were until I showed him.Also showed him how to install them correctly.

Good rebuild shops are getting very hard to find.
 
The local JD dealer in Wooster Ohio has another building set up just for starter,gen,and alt.,carb.and other repairs. I think it is ran seperatly,but it is right there on their lot all the same. So it depends on the dealers.
 
In the rural areas concepts have changed as commuting to a more populated area has become easier.

When I was a kid there were no local parts stores, so each shop carried an inventory of often used parts and the major aftermarket parts suppliers called on/delivered to all of the dealers and small independent shops twice a week (once near the beginning of the week and once near the end of the week). So usually the wait for aftermarket parts was 2 to 4 days. Now the local NAPA makes 2 parts run every week day if you call before noon, if they don’t have it in stock, they will have it on their counter before closing time, and if you call afternoon they will have it by 10:00AM the next morning.

Parts ordered from a dealers warehouse usually was delivered by Greyhound Bus (dropped at the depot), railroad or truck freight and could take from a few days up to a month.

Years ago even the small independent shops had an armature lathe and a growler they routinley did starter and generator work.

Times and concepts have changed. How long has it been since you have seen a Valve machine working in a dealership, might be one pushed back in the corner covered with dust, :>)
 
(quoted from post at 04:52:49 10/05/11) Hate to disagree with you. But I am a mechanic from the old school. I have seen mechanics go from the ones that could rebuild just about anything. To ones that can only change out the part that the little box tells them to. Nothing more.

My son has a friend that is an ASE certified engine tech. Didn't know what points were until I showed him.Also showed him how to install them correctly.

Good rebuild shops are getting very hard to find.
Click to expand...

Billy they just are not teaching how to rebuild a starter or alternator any longer. Nor ae they teaching much about points and wait a few years they will stop teaching distributers alltogether as fewer car and trucks have them. Part of the reason is that a assembly line set up to rebuild someting is much more effecient than a mechanic in a shop. So the question is cost both in money and time. The customer wants his vehicle back now, not in the morning and they want it back at the lowest possible cost. If you are from the old school you now that a total rebuild on a carb means throttle and choke shaft bushings and all the rest. The last time I looked at the flat rate to remove, rebuild, install and adjust a Rochester Quadrjet was about 8 hours. Shop I was working in was 45 an hour. So that would be 360 dollars plus parts for a carb that as a reman at the time was 200 bucks hour of labor to R&I. At those kind of cost everyone is going the reman route.

Plus if the shop messes up the rebuild they have to eat the cost of fixing it again. With a reman you turn it in for another one.

Part of the problem is the consumer. When people don't know how to change their own oil they sure as heck can't change an alternator. So shops are seeing a lot more vehicles. I know a fw farmers who are not very good mechanics and have to pay to get stuff fixed. Again the shop isn't going to be willing to mess something up. Most of the guys I know would demand a loaner is they had crops to get in or harvest. So throw a reman in and get it back to the guy. Reman goes south and the shop can tell the farmer "well call the rebuilder about a loaner, all we did was change the part".

Rick
 
It is not JUST JD. I just had a Allis-Chalmers XT190 starter take a dive. Broke the nose so I needed a new started and had a bad core. Owner wanted OEM AGCO parts. Re-maned started plus a core charge since this one was shot: $928. If he could have waited a week I could have got him a new Delco for $795. He needed the tractor for silage. So just don't blame JD for high parts cost.

As for starter and alternator rebuilds. I have quit doing much more than a starter drive or brushes in either. The good re-maned today has all the parts replaced other than the housings. They will last much longer than one that just has the broken parts replaced. To warranty the repair I have to have parts that last.
 
(quoted from post at 08:52:41 10/05/11) It is not JUST JD. I just had a Allis-Chalmers XT190 starter take a dive. Broke the nose so I needed a new started and had a bad core. Owner wanted OEM AGCO parts. Re-maned started plus a core charge since this one was shot: $928. If he could have waited a week I could have got him a new Delco for $795. He needed the tractor for silage. So just don't blame JD for high parts cost.

As for starter and alternator rebuilds. I have quit doing much more than a starter drive or brushes in either. The good re-maned today has all the parts replaced other than the housings. They will last much longer than one that just has the broken parts replaced. To warranty the repair I have to have parts that last.
Click to expand...

Good point JDseller....there is a big difference between a reman (inspected, new brushes, bearing/bushings, drive or other internal parts like a rectifier) and a lot of whats coming out of Mexico and sold at cut rate places where they are inspect and repair as needed only replacing only the part/parts that are currently bad. Then to top it off they are using substandard parts.

Rick
 
oldtanker

I agree with you. People today want things fast and cheap. People like me that try and do quality work. Are not wanted anymore. Got fired from my last job because I tried to fix things instead of throwing parts at it. Was told that was not the way to do things anymore
 
I always took my starters and alternators/generators to an alternator shop. They know what they are doing. Most dealers don't have a good starter/alternator man and don't want the repair business.
C. L.
 
(quoted from post at 13:56:50 10/05/11) I always took my starters and alternators/generators to an alternator shop. They know what they are doing. Most dealers don't have a good starter/alternator man and don't want the repair business.
C. L.
Click to expand...

They want the business C.L. but can't compeat against a shop that uses remans. They charge by the flat rate manual becuase they have wages and overhead to pay. Stop by a local shop some day and see if they will give you the flat rate on R&I and alternator and also the flat rate on rebuilding one. When the shops are charging 60 and up an hour the price would be out there. You have to remember that time to clean it, test the armature/statorand field windings, replace the parts, install new bushings/bearings adds up quick. Last time I looked at the flat rate they gave 8 hours to rebuild a 4 BBL carb (Rochester Q Jet). Way less cost for the customer! A good shop has a lot of repeat customers. They also have referals and walk ins who are going to shop for the best prices. They go to Joe's and get told 100 bucks to replace yer alternator and Jim says well it's 2 hours at 60 and hour plus parts to rebuild it where do you think most people are going to go?

Rick
 
Lucky to have a private rebuilder a mile away. He's been doing it for yours. Had several powerstroke diesel starters rebuilt for under $50 bucks. Go check on a new one or a rebuilt one at an auto parts store. Most new alternators are the same way. He's got a great business. Most of the big const. co. take everything to him. It's a long lost art.
 
Theres about 10 bucks worth of small parts in a starter.Parts for my 96 Ford starter are not that expensive.PM magnet no field coils.Small shop rebuilding is possible but everyone runs to the chain type auto parts store now.
 
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