Long lasting!!

Today, I had a customer in ordering parts for his well drilling rig. He need the arms and retainers in the over-center clutch that runs the mud pump. His grandfather started the well drilling business in 1911. He took it over from his father and the business is 101 years old and has been in operation continually since 1911. He said they several months of well drilling to do putting in center pivot irrigation units. He had also inherited his great uncle's cotton gin and is still running it today. As best that he can determine the cotton gin started in operation in 1900 and has been operating ever year for 112 years. I thought it was interesting that one man owned 2 business's that are over 100 years old.


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, 17 years old and counting!!!

BUYING PARTS ON THE INTERNET!

Everyone today wants to buy on the Internet and we also are able to sell you parts online 24/7 .
I had a customer in here last Friday that had bought a BD 154 cylinder head from me and he went online to purchase an engine kit for the same tractor. I could have sold him a kit with an oil pump for around $500 to $550 and he found it cheaper online. However, the company he was buying it from was in England and the parts were priced in English Pounds not US dollars! Well the engine oil pump is wrong and will not fit his tractor and the freight to send it back is more than the part. His credit card bill was for a little over $800.00 due to converting from English Pounds to US dollars. So an extra 300 dollars and still does not have all the parts to fix his engine and it will cost him about another$145.00 to finish the job.
Just saying, Know who you are buying your parts from!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Jefferson, South Carolina, USA

15 Years

This morning I realized that the Expo Farm Show in Moultrie GA marked my 15th anniversary of being self employed. I had 3 parts tractors in stock and 1 building that I did repair work in and a desire of being able to walk to work every day. I do not miss having to drive to work!!!
15 years and we are still here thanks to hundreds of customers and friends in the USA and a couple of other countries.
Thanks for the business!!
Looking for 15 more!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Not only here for a good time Here for a long time!!!!

The reason I have no hair!!

I ordered a pto sleeve to adapt a 1-1/8 in diameter PTO shaft to a 1-3/8 in yoke on a cutter. The customer gave me the measurement of the shaft and the measurement of the yoke and I ordered the right part to make it work. Today, he comes in and he tells me the exact opposite of the first description. The shaft is 1-3/8 in diameter and the yoke is 1-1/8 in . Now it is a $35.00 part instead of an $8.00 part. And I have freight on the wrong part and freight to send it back or my money is tied up in stocking it. This is the reason I ask questions to be sure I get the right part because it costs to much to correct errors. 15 years ago it would cost $8-$10 to get a part in and send it back. Today, It cost $9.50 to get it here and it will cost the same amount to send it back. As a Customer you should know what you want and when I ask a question know the answer DO NOT GUESS the answer. If you do not understand what I am asking. Ask me to explain it. I will be glad to take the time bcause I want you to get the right part the first time!!!!
Happy customers are good for business!!!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Doing the best I can on your information!!!

CUSTOMERS

This morning I had a customer and his wife pull up on a motorcycle pulling a trailer. A nice motorcycle and matching trailer. He comes in and asks if I have a Ford 3600 drag link and I look it up and have a new one on the shelf. He said he saw the sign out on the highway and made a u turn and got the right part for his tractor. He put the drag link in the trailer and continued on home. The weather today is rainy from the remnants of the Lee storm so every half hour or so it rains anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. They had another 130 miles to go to get home. It was the first motorcycle with a trailer behind it that I have ever had pull in front of the front door!!


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Just when you think you have seen it all!!

JD 2010

I had a JD 2010 customer looking for power steering parts. He told me he had a JD 2010 Row Crop tractor above sn 29001 . He then gave me a cast number off the main housing of the part containing the part he needed to find. I looked in the JD parts book and the number he gave me does not exist in the JD system. I asked questions to determine what he had and when I asked for a serial number so I could determine which tractor style he had----- wait for it-------- his tractor did not have a serial plate on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked him how do you know it is a Row Crop. His reply was "My Neighbor told me it was!!!!!!


Folks if you do not know what it is do not take your neighbors word for it. He knows less than you do!!!!! and if the truth is told he is a blooming idiot!!!!!


If he had said at the start of the conversation that he had a JD 2010 and did not have a serial number then I cold have asked the questions to determine what he had. Because thats my job and I know what to ask. I asked if he had a number on the piston and he called me back in 10 minutes and he had a row crop but it was before serial number 29000 . The before and after piston numbers are different because JD changed them. I have found the right piston and will be getting it shipped in the morning.


Remember your neighbor is guessing. You know a lot more than he does.





Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Please don't make my job harder than it has to be!!

2 Years

I am at Raleigh for the Southern Farm Show this week. Yesterday was a pretty good day but Today was probably 10 times as many people. I was busy from about 9:30 to almost 4 in the afternoon talking to people about the parts they need.
Tomorrow is the last day of the show and I hope it is a good day!!!
Today makes it 2 years that I have been blogging. Sometimes it is hard to find the time or inspiration to write.
I talked to the guy that puts on the tractor pull in Pelion SC and his first pull this year is the last Saturday in March. I might be ready by then, I still have a set of tires to cut. Also have a little work to do on my tractor.


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor parts, 2 years and counting!!

Online Ordering

Check out our website http://setractorparts.com for online ordering of tractor parts and accessories. Just click on the "Online Ordering" button and it will take you to the ecommerce site. You can browse the parts that are there and sign up and order and the parts will be sent to you.
Take a look!

Thanks,
Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, One more way to fix your tractor!

Weather and Stuff!

Yesterday, I had a customer come in and say he needed a bearing for a Ford
9N steering sector. I looked it up in the computer and he said his did not look like the one on the screen. I asked him did he have a 3 speed transmission. This is the easiest way to tell the determine if it is a 9N (Three speed transmission) or a 8N ( Four speed transmission). He said he had a 3 speed but his steering gear was different. Then he said " I have got it in the truck" I said " Lets go look at it!"
It was a steering sector for a Ford 601!!! All 601's have a 4 or 5 speed transmission. Then he remembered it was a 4 speed. Some days it is clear why I have no hair!!
Last night it rained somewhere between 2 and 3 inches in about 45 minutes and this was accompanied by a loud amount of THUNDER and a bright amount of LIGHTENING the whole time it was raining. it was probably the most rain we have had at one time in the last 2 years.
Our pond went from being almost dryed up to overflowing!


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Crazy customers and weather!

UPS Freight Cost

Last Friday, I got the most expensive UPS Next Day Air package I have ever had delivered to me. The freight bill was $518.00. It was an engine kit for a JD 6076 engine. My customer had to have it the next day.

I just got off the phone with a customer in NC that bought a JD 3020 radiator from me in 2004 and he needed a new radiator for a JD 4020. I have one shipping to him today. We do a lot of repeat business and it is nice to look in the computer and see a history of orders and business. It makes doing business easier.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, We like it when you call back!!

Parts Questions

I had a customer call and ask "Do you have Farmall mufflers" and I said "yes". Then he asks" How much are they??" . I say(biting my tongue) "What tractor do you want one for?"
I stock a variety of mufflers for Farmall tractors and the prices range from $20.00 to roughly $165.00. It depends on the model and engine size.
If you tell me what you are working on then it is easier to give you the right price and I can tell you if I have it in stock. This guy need one for a Super A and I had it on the shelf for $32.00 .


Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Mufflers for most makes and models

Duh!

I had a customer in a few minutes ago looking for MF tractor parts. I asked him what size MF tractor is it?? And he said a MF 340. I am thinking I have never heard of a 340 MF. He is describing hydraulic lines that hook to the pump and go straight to the back of the tractor that make the lift pick up. I tell him I have never heard of a MF 340 and don't know of a tractor with lines like he is describing. Then he says...........It's got International written on the side of it!!!!!! DUH
It was a International 340. He had even asked the guy with him if it was a MF and he said it was a MF 340 .
It always baffles me when people do not know what they have. Part of his description was a MF with an International engine in it. I have seen Continental engines and Perkins engines in them but never an International engine.

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Puzzling them out one tractor at a time!

CUSTOMERS

Today, I had a customer in looking for parts to fix his tractor. I asked him What kind of tractor is it. He said it was a big tired tractor just like the one I have out front. The one out front is an IH 300. He described the problem he had and the parts he needed and I thought to myself "It must be something else!" I asked him again what model tractor did he have and he said it might be a IH or could be a AC . I told him that what he was describing did not sound like either tractor. He finally calls his buddy and determines that is a MF tractor. I still do not know what size it is. I should have the parts to fix his leak on the shelf. He just has to split the tractor to find out where the leak is coming from. He really thought that since I had a big tired tractor and he had a big tired tractor that they had to be the same tractor!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, And you wonder why I am confused sometimes!