JD 4400 bearing made in Russia.

[Ole_Hickory]

I am in the process of working on my JD 4400 and had to replace a bearing on my PTO shaft and stamped right on the bearing,it says "Russia".

 

[slowrev]

I believe that profit not quality is driving pretty much all businesses today. Get the parts from wherever it is the cheapest. I wonder how many Chinese parts are in our "premium" brand tractors ?
We are surely moving into a world economy, and several aspects of that are not necessarialy to the consumers benefit.

 

[beenthere]

Not surprising as we live in a 'world' now, and Deere operates around the world, selling tractors everywhere (and making parts for them everywhere).
The implication is that "Made in Russia" is not quality? "Made in China" is not quality? I doubt (IMO) that the bearings are not up to a pretty tight standard set by Deere, and yes, cutting cost is what we all demand. Just gander at the discussions of Green costing so much, and it probably isn't just because it is green paint. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[slowrev]

Beenthere,
I agree that Russia and China can make good parts, but you would never guess that from the people on this board bashing Chinese tractors. And to be truthful I have bought former solviet junk and ridden in former solviet auto's, was not impressed.
I have also bought some tools from India that were trash, but Mahindra tractors are pretty good, and they used to make IH Tractors there under license from IH.
Made in Taiwan and Japan used to be frowned upon as well.... how things change /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

With all of this said I am still a bit leery of buying Chinese equipment or stuff from the former solviet area. I believe they still have a ways to go in the quality dept. to get close to the top, or perhaps the top is just dropping to meet theirs in the middle /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I think the thing to consider when buying something that is made in India, China, Russia, or any of the other places that are known for shoddy workmanship is to look at the company first and then the parts second.

Companies like JD, NH, Ford, GM, Volkswagen, G.E., Dell, etc all operate all over the globe. Each of those companies makes top flight goods. When they have a part made in a Russian factory, that part is spec'd to their company standards. Just because pretty much all bolts, bearings and metal casting for a transmissions may look the same does not mean they are the same. If the part is going into a name brand piece of equipment it is made to their standards.

Take JD & Yanmar or NH & Shiburu as great examples. Yanmar makes a fine tractor in its own right, as does Shiburu, but buying a Yanmar is NOT buying a Deere, nor is buying a Shiburu buying a NH. Sub-contractors all over the globe make components and the quality of those components is tightly controlled by the big companies such that they make sure only high quality parts go into their machines. Cut rate machines like Jinmas use cheaper parts than Deere uses, yet both build tractors in China. Jinmas are held to completely different, and much lower, standards. Doesn't mean they are bad machines, but it sure as heck means they are not Deeres!

Let's all understand that the country of origin is not the quality control agent, it is the company that specifies the part that actually controls the quality.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

Well said!

 

[Darren]

Out of curiosity how many hours do you think were on that bearing? Five hundred? One thousand? Several thousand? Would a made in America Timken have died as soon? I'm seeing and hearing plenty of problems with foreign materials. Failed Romanian bearings in trailer axles. Automotive parts that might as well be left in the box given how long they last.

Sure some foreign stuff is top notch, but many manufacturers specify a mean time before failure (MTBF) which isn't necessarily in the customers' best interests. For example an injection pump from Stanadyne speced at a MTBF of 100,000 miles when the engine (IH/Ford) would last easily three or four times that long. When that engine came out, replacing the pump was a $1,200 repair. At that time you could get the transmission rebuilt for less. Manufacturers' specs aren't always the best quality.

There's a big difference in good enough (meets specs) and the best quality a vendor can attain. In other words, it would be nice to get quality better than a manufacturer speced. I've seen cases where products were so superior it's obvious the buyer got better than they specified. Meeting spec doesn't necessarily mean the best or even above average quality. For some things, structural fastners, I'd never buy foreign. Sometimes things you think meet a spec, don't.

 

[NIXON]

I'd not be too concerned about the made in Russia thing .
After all as we used to say when I was in the AF .....
Russia makes the worlds fastest digital watches ,and Biggest micro chips /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Seriously though I've had the opportunity to work on some of their planes . Not much in the way of high tech . But they were solidly designed and put together . John

 

[Ole_Hickory]

Darren/Nixon............
I am not a bit concerned about the bearing being made in Russia,I just thought it was suprising to see "Russia" stamped on it, I would have excpected to see made in China/Mexico or India before I seen " Russia" stamped on it..The reason the bearing was going bad is because the PTO shaft is slightly bent and has a wobble in it. I had to tear the tractor down to do some other work on it and I new I was going to have to put a new bearing on it because of the shaft being bent and having the wobble.

 

[om21braz]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am in the process of working on my JD 4400 and had to replace a bearing on my PTO shaft and stamped right on the bearing,it says "Russia". )</font>

Was it sized to replace it with a off-the-shelf SKF, Timken, etc. or was it a special you could only get from Deere ?