Goose
Well-known Member
I needed to replace the switch that turns the deck on and off on a John Deere 111 garden tractor. The switch has five contacts and only uses three.
The nut that holds the switch tight in the panel was frozen to a point of breaking the old switch trying to get it loose. I finally used a cutoff tool to cut the nut. I went to the local John Deere dealer for a new switch. They had it in stock for $28.00, only it didn't come with a nut on it. When I asked for a nut, the young kid at the parts counter punched a few numbers into his computer and said, "We don't have one. Sorry". End of conversation.
I have a junk Murray garden tractor, and I thought maybe the nut on a switch on it would be the same. It wasn't. Seems the John Deere switch takes an odd size nut. I figured out the contacts on the switch and found out Oerscheln's had one that did the same thing for $4.99.
I bought and installed the one from Oerscheln's, then took the one back to John Deere for a refund.
This is a fairly large John Deere dealership, and considering all the service work they do, including a large area of the service department dedicated to lawn mowers and garden tractors, I can't believe that in the whole freakin' dealership there would not be a nut for that switch. The parts kid was just too lazy to go look for one. He'd rather lose a sale than do something that didn't involve sitting on his butt by his computer.
My rant for the day.
The nut that holds the switch tight in the panel was frozen to a point of breaking the old switch trying to get it loose. I finally used a cutoff tool to cut the nut. I went to the local John Deere dealer for a new switch. They had it in stock for $28.00, only it didn't come with a nut on it. When I asked for a nut, the young kid at the parts counter punched a few numbers into his computer and said, "We don't have one. Sorry". End of conversation.
I have a junk Murray garden tractor, and I thought maybe the nut on a switch on it would be the same. It wasn't. Seems the John Deere switch takes an odd size nut. I figured out the contacts on the switch and found out Oerscheln's had one that did the same thing for $4.99.
I bought and installed the one from Oerscheln's, then took the one back to John Deere for a refund.
This is a fairly large John Deere dealership, and considering all the service work they do, including a large area of the service department dedicated to lawn mowers and garden tractors, I can't believe that in the whole freakin' dealership there would not be a nut for that switch. The parts kid was just too lazy to go look for one. He'd rather lose a sale than do something that didn't involve sitting on his butt by his computer.
My rant for the day.
