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!!!

Finishing Up!

I finished installing the other rear tire on Linda's tractor last night and I also got all the bolts tightened properly. I could not get the alternator to kick in and charge so I decided to drive it around and let the engine run and warm up. After about 30 minutes of driving the alternator went to working like it is supposed to.

I just finished rebuilding a Farmall M carb for a customer. It had set up for a while and the gas was starting to change and it left a coating on the inside of the carb that had to be scraped out. The fuel passage behind the main jet was clogged with trash and bad fuel. I cleaned the passages and replaced a bad float and now it should run a little better. Good thing I had all of this in stock!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Rebuilding carbs one float at the time!!!

Florida Trip

Last week I went to Orlando FL. for the National Tractor Parts Dealer meeting. As usual there were a bunch of vendors set up to advertise their products. They also had 2 speakers, Michael Libbie who gave a presentation on Social Media and Ed Mcmillian who gave a presentation on Fraud and Embezzlement. The speakers by themselves were worth the trip.
I left home last Wednesday morning about 5:30 am and it was 25 degrees here. When I got out of the pickup in Florida it was 76 degrees. It was hot again!!!!
One of the ideas I brought home and I recommend to all of you is used a gel pen when you write a check. The gel ink is supposed to bind to the fiber in the check and cannot be washed off. A crook can take your check and wash the ink off the pay to line and the amount and leave your signature on the check Then they can fill it out payable to whoever and they can write in any amount that they want to. And the check has your signature on it. The gel pen ink is not supposed to wash out. If you use a regular ink pen the ink sits on top of the paper and will wash off with the right solution.

When you come here to buy a parts I will loan you my Gel pen to fill out your check!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts,

Why Tech manuals are important!

I had a call earlier from a customer looking for an injection pump for a JD tractor. He said his tractor would crank and run but it smoked real bad and did not have any power. I asked questions about what had been done and why did he think he had an injection pump problem. He then said he rebuilt the engine and did not put new rod bolts in it and the rod bolt broke and wedged in the cam gear and sheared the cam gear and nose of the cam off. I asked him how he timed the injection pump and the cam. He said he lined up the mark on the gear with the center of the crankshaft. Which is basically what you do to time the engine. I asked him did he have the #1 piston at top dead center on the compression stroke and I lost him here. He had just timed the cam and pump to the center of the crankshaft. He did not set the crankshaft in the proper position before timing the cam and pump. I figure it is a couple of teeth out of time, close enough so it will crank but not on the money so it will have power. The front of the motor has to come back off to retime the engine.
There are 2 things here to know and remember.
A: Never rebuild a John Deere engine using the old rod bolts! Always put in new ones!!!!!
B: Always follow proper procedures to time your engine when you have replaced timing
components !!!!

Eric Benton, Southeast Tractor Parts, Understand what makes your tractor run, Buy a Tech Manual!!

Home again

I spent last week at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville KY exhibiting with 2 of my friends. We sell some of the same parts as well as each of us kinda specialize in different areas as well. Displaying together, we bring a large amount of experience and knowledge to answer questions and solve our customers problems so they can get the right part. I met one of Tracy's customers with a JD 8430 that I spoke with 2 years ago helping him to solve transmission problem or a hydraulic problem. It has been to long and I cannot remember which one. The show brought a new set of faces each day. Each looking for different parts, each looking for a solution, and some surprised that they needed alot more info about there tractor to get an answer.
The most popular tractor that people were looking for parts was a JD 4020. This is a little unusual. The parts are plentiful for these tractors so generally I get asked more about the odd tractors. People were looking for tricycle steering knuckles, engines, transmission parts, sway blocks ,pto shafts, sheet metal!!, and hydraulic pumps. These are all parts we have and most of them are in-stock and ready to be shipped.
I also had lots of questions about what was wrong with their hydraulic systems, or fuel systems or cranking problems. I had one customer tell me how he unscrewed the hydraulic line coming from the hydraulic pump and plugged the line with his finger to see if it had any pressure. I then told him his pump was not working and he said " How do you know the pump won't work" I said " If the pump worked you would be missing a hand or an arm or you would be dead!!" He kinda chuckled and asked " How do you figure that? " I said" High pressure hydraulic fluid will will blow through your skin and it starts to kill you. The doctor will start cutting parts off until they get ahead of your hands and arms dying and if they don't get ahead of it your buddys get to carry you out to the grave yard" I don't think he realized until then what he had done. Tech Tip #1 DO NOT PRESSURE CHECK HYDRAULICS OR FUEL SYSTEMS WITH YOUR HANDS THEY MAKE SPECIAL TOOLS FOR THIS THAT WILL NOT DIE.
If I did not talk to you then come back next year and come by the booth to see me.

Eric Benton