• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Do you loathe parts guys sometimes? Do you wonder if major manufacturers really have it together?

emmett518

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2021
Messages
810
Location
USA
My parts guys are Saints. I’ve asked them a zillion questions and cut a bunch of very small orders and they have been nothing but decent. Kudos to Schmidt Equipment in New England.
 

Jonas302

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,197
Location
mn
For a parts lookup only account just call your dealer If you dont already have a customer account they will need to set that up first

When I registered for SIS we already had a customer account number I followed a link and was set up the next day
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Not all parts men are created equal, had a few over the years knew EXACTLY where to look in the guides for those items that were not typical location, much as Cat SIS for parking some Valve train pieces in Engine Brake, or Valve Train cover components in other than Valve Cover section.

Takes a bit of skill to negotiate thru many OEM Supply documents, KW as I have found is as bad or worse, IHC used to be a joke now is a Utter joke to find correct pieces, tried to aid the shop techs on a Corn Queen tractor as to defining identifying names for parts they needed, still turned inside out as the parts man 'Could Not Identify' a Heater box(Blend Air) Filter.
 

ih100

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
731
Location
Peterborough UK
Parts guys have the same issues as techs, there’s an ever growing variety of models and variations, with more and more components, along with the older kit that we keep nursing along. No human can keep up.

As I said though, I always try to treat people how I accept being treated and there’s never been an issue getting pages from parts lists or workshop manuals emailed through. There’s the occasional new guy/gal who needs breaking in, but I haven’t found one in any company who actively doesn’t want to get the right parts to the right machine.
 

DatCoonAss

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2021
Messages
9
Location
Mississippi USA
Occupation
Diesel Mechanic
thanks for the info. we've recently had a lot of changes post covid a few of the long term rock solid parts guys i depended on have left long term positions and now i find myself having to
go multiple times and being unable to send my helpers to pick up parts because they keep getting the wrong part missing gaskets etc which i don't need to tell you guys is a pain in the a**.
anything that allows me to double check that were getting the right parts at least for now seems like time well spent.
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
Well, the last 24 hours has been fun. I started looking for a Komatsu stick weldment yesterday for a customer. Part # 20Y-70-01310 (New from Komatsu $22729.28, none in stock at the factory, approx 6 months lead time) so I go to my trusted Machinery Trader Website and throw in the part number and Presto!
machtrad pic.jpg
So, Rock Eq shows 1, Con Equip. shows 2. I look at the pics supplied by Rock and notice there is a thumb base weldment on it........not preferable for me. So I call Con late yesterday with my part number I supplied. He asked me how I got the part number, I told him from my local dealer. He still requests to look it up anyway.........so I provide the model and serial #. After 10 minutes of listening to him type on the other end he tells me they do have 1 but would need to verify that this morning as their yard had already closed for the day. I said no problem, call me in the morning.......I will need pics of the stick, price, and a freight estimate to Tulsa.

He calls me this morning and says he has the price and quote, but is still waiting on the pics to send. I said no problem , email it all to me as a quote so I can get back to my customer. I just get in about an hour ago and open his email to find..........
Con email with pics.jpg
Look familiar? NOW I know they never had 1 to begin with. They found the same one I did in a search, represented it as theirs, and are playing the middleman. Little do they know that I ALREADY KNEW ABOUT THAT ONE! That explains the amount of typing I could hear over the phone yesterday. Would you believe Con has called me 3 times today trying to sell that stick!

Don't get me wrong, we all have to make money to survive but to do this and misrepresent what you actually have in stock..........or NOT have, is just wrong. I'm calling Rock Eq in the morning to see what their price is to me directly. This guy at Con has a big surprise coming in the morning. In the meantime, if you know where one of these is that is in good condition, let me know cause I'm buying.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
What you are seeing has been common practice for thirty years or more. I have fun at times running them on about seeing another machine for less money.

I did a job for a repo company about twenty years ago on some cranes that were all over the country. I did the appraisals and helped write the ad copy that went into the trade rags. Price was set and I monitored the advertising. One day I did a search on the biggest unit and picked up another company advertising our machine for about fifty percent more asking than our price. Called up my principles and let them know that they were being two timed. They weren't too pleased about the price being advertised as it made people think there was more that one unit on the market at that time.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Actually that feed is direct from the CatUsed web site and is an option that the dealer has when they load their equipment up in CatUsed. When I ran the dealer feed for NC Machinery I didn't put that in. The asking prices were already so high nobody would bother trying to steal a photo and market as their own. Instead they would call the dealer and ask for a commission if they sold it.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Same difference. Here is one for Abele tractor which is not a Cat dealer -

Cabele watermark MT.jpeg

The sellers are watermarking their products to thwart re-sellers. More times than I can remember when I'm searching for a specific used machine on MT the same machine comes up with multiple sellers and of course different pricing.

The world is full of hustlers.
 
Last edited:

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
It's the same thing only on the John Deere web site. Those are there as part of a business agreement between the advertiser and the seller and those as far as I've seen are very expensive and put together by the manufacturer. So Cat and Deere did a contract with Machinery Trader, Rock and Dirt and Mascus that would link the Cat and Deere web feeds directly to the big web advertisers and paid a substantial fee for the privilege.

Log onto My Little Salesman or Trader Online and see how many of those you pick up. So Joe's repo company might have the means to watermark but most consider that someone else is paying to advertise their machine is not a bad thing.
 

partsandservice

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
846
Location
Georgia
I use MT in my used parts business and have had to watermark my parts photos for the same reason. We generally already know who is piggy backing our inventory. With the exception of a few mistakes if a MT search shows it in our inventory we have it. With that being said, we use the system to locate parts for customers that inquire but we let them know we can get it for them never claim it to be in possession . Also we have local customers that have us aquire new cat parts for them and are willing to pay a little more to assure they get the correct part. The level of photo pirates is much greater on the social media platforms.
 
Last edited:

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,275
Location
sw missouri
Well I got bailed out by a dealer this week. Need a shaft for swing gearbox on a Grove RT. Call my dealer in St. Louis with my serial # and part #. Dealer confirms my part #.

None at Grove in the factory parts. None at any other dealers. " Wait a minute- its showing I have one sitting on my shelf here in St. Louis!" (Why his own inventory is the last thing he checked may indicated their stocking levels, but I'm interrupting my own story, sorry).

I hear him walking back to the shelves, and sure enough, he has one in his hand. He said lead time was 40 days from grove, and I'm assuming that's 40 business days not calendar days. Then he asked if I wanted it!?? Of course I want it- that's why I called.

He said he would be ordering one to replace the one I bought.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Felt a miss in the wive's 4Runner yesterday. Looked down at the odometer and it said 185K and since I had never changed the plugs, I should probably do that first. Coming back from a project this morning I stopped at OSmiley and told the kid at the counter what I was working on and what I needed. He hands me six plugs. I go home and get started. Pulled the first plug and it didn't look anything like what the kid gave me so I looked them both up on the home computer. No cross over so back to OSmiley I went. Different counterman this time. I told him what happened and showed him the plug I removed. I told him I checked the cross over and what I got didn't. He looked it up and agreed, then asked me if I wanted the same plugs as was in the car. I asked how much and he said two dollars less per plug than what I paid. I said yes please and when done I told him I'll talk to him first next time.
 
Top