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Everywhere you look around here anyway the John Deere dealers are full of Stihl equipment. Has John Deere bought out Stihl or something?

jekjr said:

Everywhere you look around here anyway the John Deere dealers are full of Stihl equipment. Has John Deere bought out Stihl or something?

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I think most dealers are selling stihl. The snapper and emark dealers around here sell stihl and echo. Ace hardware all so sells both.

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No, John Deere has not bought Stihl. Their dealers have just found out that they need to start selling quality home owner equipment. Stihl has also expand the number of authorized dealers. At one time they would not have two dealers within 30 miles of each other. I have now seen them with blocks. Problem we have in our area is that we have 2 new dealers within 15 miles of us, who sell, but their service is very poor. Hate to see someone else's sticker on and we are asked to repair. Not good for the brand, but can do nothing about. One dealer does not even set up the equipment properly. Hope Stihl catches on quickly.

John Deere also has Honda products in their dealers: Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in U.S. :thumbsup:

lawn mower fanatic said:

John Deere also has Honda products in their dealers: Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in U.S. :thumbsup:

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Yes I saw that there were Honda products in the JD dealers.

Talked to a guy at a Deere parts counter. He said, "John Deere has stopped selling saws and the like under their name and now all John Deere dealers will carry or be able to carry Stihl products because they have some sort of marketing agreement with them."

That might be right. Sounds good anyway.

No more savvy than the John Deere dealers around here are on OPE or anywhere else I have lived they will have one heck of a time with Stihl stuff. The salesmen, parts boys and techs are going to need much in the way of schooling not to mention a great deal of get up and go. No doubt farmers would buy some stuff as well as commercial folks but they have nothing to draw in the homeowner crowd, are not open on the right days, are poorly located, know right at nothing about advertisement, and in short are just plain not in the least bit friendly nor used to selling complete items in the $150 to $350 range. They are just to darn Ag related here abouts.

Im surprised JD hasnt bought Stihl.
They buy just about everthing else. :laughing:

The ag dealers certainly have a great line up from mowers right through to farm tractors but they never seem interested in the mower side.

I bet the 2 stroke product will be painted green soon.:laughing:

Just what does John Deere carry in their line of outdoor power equipment products anymore. One of their dealerships near me specializes in commercial and golf care equipment. Big leaping Deere sign on the front of the building, but when you walk into their front door all you see are Stihl chain saws and trimmers of all kinds, Ariens snowblowers, Honda walk behind mowers, snow blowers and generators. The only thing green and yellow I saw was the sign on the wall and a few toy tractors. Come to think of it, I almost had to look for the John Deere sign among the Stihl, Ariens and Honda signs and posters. There is another dealer a few miles away that is consumer oriented, so maybe it's different there.

bwdbrn1 said:

Just what does John Deere carry in their line of outdoor power equipment products anymore.

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Residential Products & Equipment:
John Deere Residential Products and Equipment JohnDeere.com

Commercial Products & Equipment:
John Deere Commercial Products and Equipment JohnDeere.com

Biggest JD dealer in scotland NAIRNBROWN - John Deere dealer Glasgow
They do everything.

Ag, Golf course, bowling green, domestic and sell other products as well.

pugaltitude said:

Biggest JD dealer in scotland NAIRNBROWN - John Deere dealer Glasgow
They do everything.

Ag, Golf course, bowling green, domestic and sell other products as well.

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There are some big dealers in Pennsylvania that when I go on their website (I have never been there in person) and I click on the New Equipment > Lawn and Garden, the only 2 choices after that are "Honda Power Equipment" and "Stihl". It looks like the only JD riders they sell are used? But along with lawn and garden, they also sell agriculture and commercial equipment (actually John Deere brand).
Deer Country Farm & Lawn, Inc. - Home

lawn mower fanatic said:

There are some big dealers in Pennsylvania that when I go on their website (I have never been there in person) and I click on the New Equipment > Lawn and Garden, the only 2 choices after that are "Honda Power Equipment" and "Stihl". It looks like the only JD riders they sell are used? But along with lawn and garden, they also sell agriculture and commercial equipment (actually John Deere brand).
View attachment 12061 Deer Country Farm & Lawn, Inc. - Home

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I went in one in Pensacola Fl this past Friday and once I got inside honest to goodness it looked like it was a Stihl dealer that sold some John Deere stuff. Even the little John Deere dealer in Frisco City, Al. have a very large area of Stihl stuff. On the outside they look like John Deere but when you go inside they look like Stihl dealers.....:confused2:

jekjr said:

I went in one in Pensacola Fl this past Friday and once I got inside honest to goodness it looked like it was a Stihl dealer that sold some John Deere stuff. Even the little John Deere dealer in Frisco City, Al. have a very large area of Stihl stuff. On the outside they look like John Deere but when you go inside they look like Stihl dealers.....:confused2:

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WOW that's weird! :confused3:

lawn mower fanatic said:

WOW that's weird! :confused3:

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I wonder with everything that JD is doing or selling now if they basically priced their selves out of the mower business, but I guess it could based on location when it comes to what there selling.

Is stihl on a power roll...does a bear eat in the woods? Today on speed channel , Valencia Spain, Euro sedan race... The mercedes race car is jacked up with a hydraulic jack...The handle is a replica of their chain saw with stihl in capital letters.

Beware anyone who dominates a product until it rules. Prices go up and service goes down. And if you don't like it whatcha gonna do...?

Interesting Conversation, here in the "Corn Belt" John Deere seems to be king with the Ag Community. If its Green & Yellow most farmers will buy it without question but with that said we haven't seen much orange in the JD dealerships around here. I would agree most lawn professionals and home owners most likely would not jump real fast to buy their products from a dealership. Hard to beat a full service Stihl Shop!

:smile: As far as I am concerned JD, ought to change there colors to green and gold. For example they have an exclusive agreement with Kawaski on certain enignes, and if you are not savy enough to take JD's part numbers and convert then to Kaw's numbers, you might as well take your bank book when buying parts from JD. Around here one JD dealer has been selling Honda and Stihl for a couple of years. Where they come up with the price list for those products, the Lord only knows, as there prices are considerly higher than the Honda and Stihl dealers that have been in business for years. Rant over.

Buckshot 1 said:

:smile: As far as I am concerned JD, ought to change there colors to green and gold. For example they have an exclusive agreement with Kawaski on certain enignes, and if you are not savy enough to take JD's part numbers and convert then to Kaw's numbers, you might as well take your bank book when buying parts from JD. Around here one JD dealer has been selling Honda and Stihl for a couple of years. Where they come up with the price list for those products, the Lord only knows, as there prices are considerly higher than the Honda and Stihl dealers that have been in business for years. Rant over.

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John Deere is and has always been incredibly high on their parts. I was talking to a guy this week that sells parts to commercial accounts. He said that he called on the John Deere dealer to possibly sell them some some freon. They told hiim that they could put nothing but John Deere freon in their tractors and it is like a multiple of what his costs.

jekjr said:

John Deere is and has always been incredibly high on their parts. I was talking to a guy this week that sells parts to commercial accounts. He said that he called on the John Deere dealer to possibly sell them some some freon. They told hiim that they could put nothing but John Deere freon in their tractors and it is like a multiple of what his costs.

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Hope he did not fall for that BS. I would have asked, since when did JD start producing their own Freon? Who ever it is, I bet that JD has a exclusive agreement with them.

Buckshot 1 said:

Hope he did not fall for that BS. I would have asked, since when did JD start producing their own Freon? Who ever it is, I bet that JD has a exclusive agreement with them.

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It is in a John Deere can. John Deere has about anything you can name like that. It might have come from the same place as that stuff he was selling and the cans might have been identical except for the fact that the one they use has John Deere on it. Regardless what they guy selling knows. John Deere Dealers are only going to use John Deere stuff cause they make a fortune on it because of the label.......

jekjr said:

Everywhere you look around here anyway the John Deere dealers are full of Stihl equipment. Has John Deere bought out Stihl or something?

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I bought John Deere, Honda and Stihl equipment from the same NE Ohio dealer. He always has what I want and all the employees are a great gang. Very convenient and well stocked.

As soon as all this snow melts I'm going to put all those tools to good use.

:smile: I am not putting all JD dealers in one basket. We have on in the area that he and his employees will go out of their way to help. We also have one where he and his employees are rude and they think their stuff does not stink. Talk about that Freon being in a JD can. Years ago when I was in the trucking business, I was delivering a load of shipping crates to Prestone. I notice that they had four lines running and one was yellow. I asked the Shipping and receiving foreman if they had four different tanks with different grades, he stated no just one tank supplied all four lines, same grade. As far as price wise its all in the label and JD sure is proud of their label.

Buckshot 1 said:

:smile: I am not putting all JD dealers in one basket. We have on in the area that he and his employees will go out of their way to help. We also have one where he and his employees are rude and they think their stuff does not stink. Talk about that Freon being in a JD can. Years ago when I was in the trucking business, I was delivering a load of shipping crates to Prestone. I notice that they had four lines running and one was yellow. I asked the Shipping and receiving foreman if they had four different tanks with different grades, he stated no just one tank supplied all four lines, same grade. As far as price wise its all in the label and JD sure is proud of their label.

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ON a lighter note when I was just out of highschool I worked at a JD dealer. We could buy things at a discount. I bought a 220 JD welder. It was a good little crackerbox welder. I at that time did not have a shop and I would store it inside the back door of my trailer to keep it out of the weather or anybody from stealing it when I was not around. I would keep it in a plastic tub to make sure that it dod not leak oil on my carpet.....:laughing: At that time I had never seen anything with John Deere on it that did not leak hyd oil and I did not want to take a chance.

I saw the same smug , arrogant attitude at JD when I was looking around for a rider. Reminded me of what I see in most ACE hardware stores- good selection ,really high prices. They must screen their franchisees (or owners) for superiority complex.

:smile: jeKjr, That last statement in your post, is just down right funny. Kinda remines me of the old Detroit Deisel engines saying, if is not leaking oil and rattleing its ready to blow. Motoman, around here, Ace/Do-it-Best hardware stores, their employees are falling all over there self to help you. But some of the younger ones, have no idea what you are looking for. There prices are high and they do have a good selection.

Just depends on the dealer. Around here they always welcome you as you come into the store. I've never had a bad experience with them. Just this week I went in there to purchase the inner and outer air filter for a John Deere zero turn. The Kawasaki engine on it has two different intakes manufactured by two different companies. We looked it up through their system and knew exactly which mower I had. He thought he had given me the right one but after I took the old one off I realized I had the wrong one. I called down there and they pulled up my invoice and sure enough they gave me the wrong one. I went to a completely different store 40 miles away but owned by the same guy. The parts guy had the correct one and gladly made the swap for me. I wasn't mad upset or ask for any special treatment as we all are human and make mistakes. On his owner he gave me ten percent off for my troubles. I was very thankful for he didn't have to do that. I guess I'm very fortunate to have a few dealers around like that.

Re: John Deere

Now that John Deere is in Lowes and Home Depot, I've been told by old time dealers that the product quality has gone way down. Also, a homeowner is not going to hunt up some small dealer for JD when he can just go to Home Depot to get it. I'm not a JD fan. My brother owned a push mower and had it in the shop at least once a year it's whole life. I tried to warn my father off JD when he was looking for a lawn tractor. He wouldn't listen...and now hates the one he bought. Underpowered and just doesn't mow all that well.

Re: John Deere

ModernMode said:

Now that John Deere is in Lowes and Home Depot, I've been told by old time dealers that the product quality has gone way down. Also, a homeowner is not going to hunt up some small dealer for JD when he can just go to Home Depot to get it. I'm not a JD fan. My brother owned a push mower and had it in the shop at least once a year it's whole life. I tried to warn my father off JD when he was looking for a lawn tractor. He wouldn't listen...and now hates the one he bought. Underpowered and just doesn't mow all that well.

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I saw some zero turns in the dealer in Pensacola a week or so ago that looked real good. I had never seen a John Deere commercial that looked that big.

Re: John Deere

jekjr said:

I had never seen a John Deere commercial that looked that big.

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And then there are the huge JD Diesel Z Trak's!! :shocked:
John*Deere 997 Diesel Ztrak Mowers JohnDeere.com

Re: John Deere

ModernMode said:

Now that John Deere is in Lowes and Home Depot, I've been told by old time dealers that the product quality has gone way down. Also, a homeowner is not going to hunt up some small dealer for JD when he can just go to Home Depot to get it. I'm not a JD fan. My brother owned a push mower and had it in the shop at least once a year it's whole life. I tried to warn my father off JD when he was looking for a lawn tractor. He wouldn't listen...and now hates the one he bought. Underpowered and just doesn't mow all that well.

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:smile: I heard/read some where the the JD;s sold by Lowes/Home Depot are being made by MTD. I would have to look awful close at the model number tag, before buying.

Re: John Deere

Buckshot 1 said:

:smile: I heard/read some where the the JD;s sold by Lowes/Home Depot are being made by MTD. I would have to look awful close at the model number tag, before buying.

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I would not doubt it. It is a shame that John Deere would put their colors and name on such as that.

It's a shame that MTD would put that ugly green paint and junk deer on there mowers.

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It's a shame MTD can't build at least one decent tractor that I could recommend to my customers.

Rivets said:

It's a shame MTD can't build at least one decent tractor that I could recommend to my customers.

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I am not a fan of anything they make either. I have a Craftsman that is probably built by them but I normally only use it to pull a cart or pine straw rake. I do ot use it to cut grass.

I do not know about any of the newer MTDs but I have a 1990 ace and a 1998 yard man gt they both are very well built. I run them very hard.
When it comes to tall thick grass they both will out cut a JD or a snapper. In 22 years only had to replace tires and belts and blades.

JD. Is a name you pay for they have never built a tough riding mower. If you need a farm tractor then yes I would go with JD. I have a yellow JD front end loader and like it better than a CAT of the same size.

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Carscw said:

I do not know about any of the newer MTDs but I have a 1990 ace and a 1998 yard man gt they both are very well built. I run them very hard.
When it comes to tall thick grass they both will out cut a JD or a snapper. In 22 years only had to replace tires and belts and blades.

JD. Is a name you pay for they have never built a tough riding mower. If you need a farm tractor then yes I would go with JD. I have a yellow JD front end loader and like it better than a CAT of the same size.

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In most instances I totally agree with you on the John Deere mowers. There have been a few through the years that they made that were pretty good. As for the MTD mowers they also built some that were pretty good. They now build some that are nothing more than junk. Cours that is my opinion.

:smile: I have one customer that has a MTD made LT. It is one tough LT, after all that its been thru in the last 10 yrs., It should have been in the grave yard. I also have another customer that has an ACE (MTD) LT and it been thru he_ _ and back and keeps on ticking. I learned a long time ago, not to use after market belts on MTD products, as they have a different pitch (angle) than the MTD's ones. I was not going for this, until an old time mechanic showed me how deep an after market belt rides in the pulleys against where a MTD stamped belt rides. I have found the same to be true on JD's and Simple-city (older) products.

I use a cheap belt on the deck and it works fine but on the drive only MTD belts will work but they do last a long time so well worth the money for them.

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Buckshot 1 said:

:smile: I have one customer that has a MTD made LT. It is one tough LT, after all that its been thru in the last 10 yrs., It should have been in the grave yard. I also have another customer that has an ACE (MTD) LT and it been thru he_ _ and back and keeps on ticking. I learned a long time ago, not to use after market belts on MTD products, as they have a different pitch (angle) than the MTD's ones. I was not going for this, until an old time mechanic showed me how deep an after market belt rides in the pulleys against where a MTD stamped belt rides. I have found the same to be true on JD's and Simple-city (older) products.

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I even found that to be true on some macinery with bearings a few years ago. They special order the parts from a manufacturer that are slightly different mainly so you will have to buy from them to get it and there is a large mark up.

:smile: Carscw, both of the MTD LT's, that I mention in my post. The deck lift handle controls the pto, move the handle down a notch and the deck movers rearward therefore tighting the deck drive belt. At one time I tried an after market belt that was suppose to be the same as a MTD branded belt. No go, as I had to drop the deck to low to fully engage the belt as the AM belt was to deep in the pulleys. Those MTD belts do last a long time. jekjr, Very true about the mark ups, but what are you going to do, when you know that the MTD belts work correctly?

Buckshot 1 said:

:smile: Carscw, both of the MTD LT's, that I mention in my post. The deck lift handle controls the pto, move the handle down a notch and the deck movers rearward therefore tighting the deck drive belt. At one time I tried an after market belt that was suppose to be the same as a MTD branded belt. No go, as I had to drop the deck to low to fully engage the belt as the AM belt was to deep in the pulleys. Those MTD belts do last a long time. jekjr, Very true about the mark ups, but what are you going to do, when you know that the MTD belts work correctly?

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Mine also works off the lift handle. If I remember right I went a half inch shorter on my 1990 model. On my 1998 yard man there are two belts that run the blades.

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:smile: Carsew, Both of the LT's I mention have the two belt deck drive. I assume by 1/2" shorter, you are referring to the cheap belts?