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Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

Tractor Parts Want list HELP NEEDED BY ALL


PeppyDan

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As most of us tractor nuts know, many of the special parts for these old iron jewels are getting more scarce than a honest politician. I have been actively working with a few local businesses to reproduce some of these parts that many of us would want for our prized toys or even for our workhorses to make them better suited for the jobs we want them to do.

What I would like from all of you is any ideas of parts that you would like to see reproduced and of equal importance is help with a name for my web site to offer these parts along with other more common parts like bearings, seals, gatorblades, deck rollers, etc...

and do not want to limit the site to only our brand of tractors so what I am looking for in a name is:

A)something easy to remember and find,

B)something that shows it relates to tractors so when searches are done it will show up on the search list page,

C)allows for growth into other brands and services

I am already making both B-series and 7000 series sleeve hitches, front counter weights, A.C. and Simplicity round hood light bars, and have my first order of the hi/low stop bracket(the item with the fingers that catch the special nuts)and pivots made from nylon coming in the next few weeks. I also have dual wheel spacers ordered and all these items are patterned from original parts that I have purchased or borrowed (thanks osenga)!

Thanks in advance for all your help in coming up with a list of parts and a name for my web site!

Dan

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Agreed on the dual wheel adapters. Not sure how closely you want to be associated with this forum, but Simple Tractor Parts comes to mind. I do like the previous suggestion, though!

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I'll apologize in advance if I "burst your bubble".

Here's dual wheel spacers for all three rim widths.

http://www.xtrememotorworks.com/Parts%20Catalog/Parts%20Pages/CC-01-001.htm

Here's a ProE drawing of a shift pivot.

http://simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=109136&whichpage=2

Ray is making sleeve hitch adapters, and other parts.

There was a guy a few years ago that was going to make up some parts, but never got around to it.

http://simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=106623&SearchTerms=nla

I also have a proE drawing of a tiller/revitalizer hitch bracket for the FDT small frame tractor.

Now, There's an issue of price points on parts that a member has reproduced for a customer. Most anyone can either reproduce the parts themselves, or take a pattern or drawing to a their own local machine shop to have something fabbed up if they want it bad enough.

I myself make delrin shift pivots usually during the month of december when things at work are slow.

A 12"x3/4" Dia rod that costs about $3.25 will yield about 18 pivots that I sell for $5.00/pair and $2.00 for flat rate shipping.

I had orders already and I end up pasting the link for the drawing and some members went and had their own made.

With all that said, I would like to see an area on this site that would have drawings and sources available that the membership can add at will aside from the Tech Tips and Articles area.

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"Dan's remaned garden tractor parts". or remanufactured, kind of a long word, i think remand would work. or remade.

WOW, that would be a great service, thanks.

The steering gets very sloppy on these old tractor, so those gear parts. gas tanks, brake parts, wheel weights, head lights. voltage regulators, starter generators, axels, belt stops. That's it for now.

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Wear parts...

There has been talk about revitalizer blades, Weedcutter & Sicklebar knives, dozer shoes.

Maybe some refurb program on chrome pieces (Grill trim, steering wheels, lift handles, B series armrest supports, etc).

How about canvas work for early Simplicity seats, vac system covers, snow cabs, how about gas tanks, OEM look-alike grill mesh...

There are a lot of things that would be nice to have access to, but no one wants to pay a big price for something non-original.

I would agree that things like hood bolts, dual wheel adapters, sleeve hitches, lightmounts etc are all becoming more readily available, very much in part to the efforts of folks here, so thought would need to be given to existing replications as well.

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Vac system covers are still available new. They are $155 for the canvas cover.

Josh, Most don`t want to take in to consideration the time involved, price of material and components to make the parts. little lone the cost involved in welding equipment, materials, ect. Original or not if you have to give it away it isn`t worth the time involved.

My tiller idlers for example. The pulleys cost $30 and then you have to do lathe work on each one of them. A lathe isn`t cheap. Oxygen and acetylene, electricity, paint, welding suplies again and the price of steel.

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I might be a little ahead of you in thinking, but I would be sure to look into LLC's and possible patent infringement.

Both to CYA ;)

Also, if you don't put "Garden" in the title, you'll get hits for all Tractors. JMO

Otherwise;

Garden Tractors Gone Retro

Garden Tractors of Yesteryear

Garden Tractors Gone Old School

My personal favorite;;

Vintage Toys for Vintage Boys, Garden Tractors of the Past:D

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Simplicity Retro Parts

Bowden cable nuts Briggs Part # 63426 Nuts that

hold the throttle cable housings to the metal strap

near the carbs on the 23D Briggs.....They've gone

from pennies to near $7- last I saw, if available......

But at that price who's checking.....

Gas Tanks.....

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Thanks for all the posts so far and keep em coming! I have already done some checking on LLC's and have been thinking about copyrights but am not quite sure how to find out about the details of that issue. Just thinking though that if it is NLA then that should not be an issue and don't copyrights have a limit of time expiration?

I am making a list of the items posted here and one of my goals is to have reproduction parts that are as good or better than originals and I will try to have both the original and repro parts available for direct comparison at the shows I sell at.

Dan

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RH lift

weed cutter blades and mandrels/spindles

gas tanks

any HI-LO parts

sickle blades

rear hitch

front crankshaft pulley cover

wheel spacers for FEL

headlight brackets for square hood FDT's

grader blade

hydraulic lift parts - cyl ram

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OEM sleeve hitches have been going for less than original MSRP on ebay in the last few weeks. I don't see a real shortage in any of these parts, aside from the dual lift levers. The problem is most people want them too cheap. The chrome grills and screens would likely cost $100 just to have plated. Almost every year someone offers B-Series hoodbolts either through the site or on eBay. They are usually priced around $60 and they only make one or two sets and they are out of business. There is some demand but until someone makes enough to get the price down they won't sell.

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Years ago I did a run of headlight bars for the round hoods, had a very limited quantity made, 25 IIRC, took me a year to break even, well over two years or more to sell out. I think they're all gone, I sometimes find parts in my pile that I have forgotten about. I love my little tractors but I don't think that I'll be doing that again any time soon. Yes there is demand but it is a limited market IMO. I would not discourage such a venture as you propose Dan, but it must be able to meet the needs of a wide variety of brands to carry you along. I've been doing part outs as they come along, as much as it pains me, (some must die in order the keep the remainder going) but it does keep a flow going.

One thing I would to find is the just right shade of orange paint for my 700! LOL I'll be waiting to see what parts you are able to produce!

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nelson mufflers for the 416...

they are bigger than the ones that fit the 10 -14 cubs that are still available aftermarket...

maybe even with the allis mounting strap

ill bet there are cub guys that would like the bigger ID inlet / outlet

(heck, for that matter, the mufflers for the 10-14 but with the allis mount instead of the cub mount)

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I think any of us with a passion for these old tractors has had dreams of starting a restoration business or making parts for resale. And I did read your post, you are not limiting yourself to Simplicity products. That being said, I still believe it is a labor of love and likely won't bring in the grocery money.

I think you could certainly do specific fabrication for just about anything. But if I need a part, and you spend hours making it, neither of us are going to win.

Mass production to make it financially feasible would require mass consumers. I don't think that market exists.

My dreams were to start Tractor Restoration, Inc., or TRI. But then you get to thinking..... a fairly good unit (not a junk rat), with just the basics, clean it up, paint, mechanically sound. You could have $3-400 in expenses, easy, assuming it was a running unit. A true full restoration? You could have $200 just in tires. And they haven't even been mounted. Engine, trans? Misc stuff costs you a hundred plus. Now, figure time and a living wage. Taxes, insurance, lights and heat, shop space...... I think I make the point.

So when you are all done and said for, you would need 2-3K easy just to break even. Then a warranty? Who's going to pay that? Not me, I want to enjoy the restore on my own. A regular guy that needs something to cut his lawn with? Good luck competing against the dealers and big box stores selling brand new stuff, with all the bells and whistles, warranty, delivery, showroom to compare options.

Then, as you are proposing, parts. How can you justify what you really should get for a part, when sometimes one part is half the price of a tractor you can buy from the classifieds or Craig's?

Tough call. I would wish you only the best, but IMHO, it is as I said, a labor of love from the heart, but not from a business mind / model.

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Brett,

Remember the episode of "American Restoration" where "Big Mike" brought in a Bantam tractor to get restored??

Mike shelled out like $6,500.00 to get that job done.

"Unliscensed" parts can be "reproduced" given the fact that a feature on the part does not match the OEM. That includes the composition of the metal, AND the part can look and perform "better than oem". This is why aftermarket body parts always have some sort of flaw in them, and are much cheaper than a liscensed OEM part.

A shift pivot for the Broadmoor Hi Lo was injection molded. I make them out of a different material and they are machined to a size close to oem.

Marketing for repop parts is no easy task. Liability is another issue altogether.

Say I make a gas tank, and the tractor it is mounted on catches fire and the cause falls back to the construction of the tank itself. Do I owe just a gas tank, a tractor, or the building and its contents that the tractor was in when the fire started.

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Liabilities are an issue today, more than ever! One consideration is in the relation to the club (a non-profit organization) In the opening paragraphs on the main web page, our founders stated "NOTE: We don't sell these old tractors, implements or parts. Instead, we're an information source".

Reproduction of most needed parts, that are NLA is a good venture, as long as the market demand supports the cost of manufacturing and distribution, as well as necessary "overhead". The ROI has to be there!

EG - There are only a few "weed cutters" product# 990370 out there (? quantity) that require blade replacement (4 each). Does it pay to produce these? Remember Federal regulations shut down the early production of this "dangerous implement". You could not even order belts for it. I know I have one.

Yet "cosmetic" items like decals can be produced and sold. I just got my set today.

I am all for the concept, but the Club cannot be put at risk! IMHO

Wayne

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Wayne:

I don't see how Dan's making parts and marketing them on his own website puts SimpTrac at risk.

Potential liability will be an issue for Dan's business, so he'll want to look into procuring insurance. That, of course, is just one more overhead cost that'll make it difficult to make a profit. But, if it's something that he really enjoys doing, perhaps a significant profit margin isn't the primary concern.

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I don't see this as a labor of love. Most of this requires a lot of research, labor, investment, etc. etc. What's interesting is this is a good view of how rare parts remain rare. Same with attachments and accessories. It's just too much work for no money. Add to that the other things mentioned like patents and liabilities. Inventory is a bad idea, also mentioned. If the market would bear a price that would make it worthwhile as a business, then it would fly; but several have said it - people want it cheap, or they will make do, or make it themselves, or find a parts tractor.

Earlier today, I typed three consecutive posts for this thread, and deleted them, without posting, cos I thought they were too negative. You guys have covered all the same points. Basically, this is a bad business model. The right business model might work. I don't hear that here. And I have no suggestions.

I thought of JBucket's business model - very specialized, very specific, universal strong demand - not everyone will pay that price; but so many want JB, that there's enough that will pay. The rest look for used.

The other picture is the auto parts trade - they have been at it for years, and there billions tied up in inventory, and they have trained their market to come to them, and do business on their terms. We all said yes to that - but "Olde Garden Tractor Specialties" would have a tough go of it with such a narrow clientele. 8)

I do note the attempt to provide needed rare parts that just aren't available except through sheer luck or by chance. That stuff would sell - but making a pretty website? to a guy desperate for something like an eccentric pin for steering, any site will do - call it "eccentric pins unlimited". Make ten other similar websites, like "High LOw Here Ya Go". They'd be easy to find.

But the idea of inventory still sux; like Reed said, took a year to break even. That's not a business. That's a good samaritan, or a martyr, or what? Labor of LOve doesn't fit anywhere here.

Just make something and throw it in classifieds, or craig's, or kijiji, or fleebay, etc.

So now I feel like deleting this post. The only thing that would make a good business would be a serious firm price, and orders in advance - like several, or lots, with a deposit sufficient to cover the costs and risks, up front. Mr NiceGuy is a recipe to go broke.

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quote:Originally posted by huffy

Wayne:I don't see how Dan's making parts and marketing them on his own website puts SimpTrac at risk.Potential liability will be an issue for Dan's business, so he'll want to look into procuring insurance. That, of course, is just one more overhead cost that'll make it difficult to make a profit. But, if it's something that he really enjoys doing, perhaps a significant profit margin isn't the primary concern.


id="quote">
id="quote">With consideration to your occupation, I welcome your learned opinion on MHO.ThanksWayne
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