US farmers win right to repair John Deere equipment
BBC News,
by
Monica Miller
Original Article
Posted By: Dreadnought,
1/10/2023 12:51:18 AM
Tractor maker John Deere has agreed to give its US customers the right to fix their own equipment.
Previously, farmers were only allowed to use authorised parts and service facilities rather than cheaper independent repair options.
Deere and Co. is one of the world's largest makers farming equipment.
Consumer groups have for years been calling on companies to allow their customers to be able to fix everything from smartphones to tractors. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and Deere & Co. signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sunday.
"It addresses a long-running issue for farmers and ranchers when it comes to accessing tools, information and resources, while protecting John Deere's intellectual property rights
Reply 1 - Posted by:
DVC 1/10/2023 2:51:48 AM (No. 1374804)
This is a trend that needs to be hammered flat, and sounds like it is.
Another variant....I work on my own cars, always have, and even with the computerized versions I have code readers and still have fixed anything that needs it. BUT, when I went to purchase the factory service manual for my 2017 Accord - they didn't print one. The "service manual" is 13 separate DVDs, each one costing about $2500. I was trying to purchase a manual at the dealership, talking to a service writer. He commisserated, saying that even the dealer couldn't afford to own all the DVDs! And he had been warned by several of his older and more experienced mechanics that "when we run out of cars that I can work on from the books, and are forced to work from the DVDs, I'm quitting". Paper manuals are WAY easier to use, not even considering the insane cost for a full set of DVDs to be equal to a $120 paper book. The books pay for themselves the first time you do a repair, or at worst the second. 13 x $2500 = $32,500 for a complete "service manual" for one model, one year. Even the dealers can't afford that.
You can sort of work on your car - but they are effectively making the repair manual "secret"....hidden behind a wall of $$$ too high for all owners, and even the dealers.
Insanity.
28 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
chumley 1/10/2023 5:29:19 AM (No. 1374847)
I have a 1969 Massey Furgeson tractor that has never been to a real mechanic as far as I know. It just runs. It has never failed to run. I replaced the charging system with one from a 1970 Camaro a few years back when the mechanical voltage regulator rusted solid. That wasn't in a book anywhere. I just did it. Glad I didnt buy the Deere now.
10 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
franq 1/10/2023 5:43:33 AM (No. 1374848)
"You will own nothing and be happy".
Sounds like part of the leftist's ultimate plan for the world. Shame on Deere for its stance.
Glad it was overturned, but new machinery is so complex, how much can a DIY do?
9 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
JayD 1/10/2023 6:58:25 AM (No. 1374885)
Deere gives away its IP to China in order to get access to the huge Chinese market, but they are worried about protecting their IP rights from farmers who are actually their customers? Large corporations need to reconnect with their customers instead of alienating them.
12 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
walcb 1/10/2023 8:11:16 AM (No. 1374933)
Headline and story are misleading. This must only refer to the GPS systems since I know from personal experience that farmers have access to JD parts to fix their own equipment and even get guidance by phone how to repair items from JD mechanics. Can they get generic parts? That I don't know. All the JD mechanics and dealers I have worked with are top notch.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Speedy2 1/10/2023 8:15:22 AM (No. 1374939)
John Deere was wrong to fight farmers on this issue.
1 person likes this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Speedy2 1/10/2023 8:17:31 AM (No. 1374941)
This same thing is happening in the aviation industry.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
sunshinehorses 1/10/2023 8:30:41 AM (No. 1374959)
Hubby has 2 JD A's from the 1940's and he always repairs them. I suspect this is on newer tractors that have too much computerization and emission control stuff on them. Farmers aren't dumb and were probably overriding all the "stuff" put on the tractors. I know hubby did a delete on his diesel truck so it would run better and get better gas mileage. Farmers were probably doing something similar.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 1/10/2023 9:01:58 AM (No. 1374985)
You can thank the EPA and government for a lot of the computerization on modern equipment.
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Encore 1/10/2023 10:06:23 AM (No. 1375047)
Maybe this force companies to engineer and build better products.
0 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DVC 1/10/2023 11:25:18 AM (No. 1375118)
Re #8. "Override the stuff....", I very much agree with the concept, but I have found that as a practical matter, any car or truck sold in the USA since about 2000 or so, probably even earlier, has a set of multiple computer systems which control the fuel injection, emissions, and most other functions on the car. Getting things to work without the computerized stuff is perhaps possible, but not anywhere near trivial. EVERYTHING is computer controlled.
And example. My 4Runner has a seemingly superfluous powered rear hatch latch. Close the hatch and you hear a motor whirr as the door is "pulled tight" and latched. What is wrong with a normal 'slam latch"?? I have no idea. But, when it started failing, the rear hatch opened several times unexpectedly, letting valuable items fall out.
I pulled the latch, cleaned, lubed and checked it on the bench. Ran perfectly. Re-install. NOTHING, completely dead. Checked wiring, all seems perfect. Pull and recheck on bench, runs just fine. Reinstall, and NOTHING. No attempt to run, just dead. Pull, check on bench, reinstall -- nothing. OK, what is going on?? I note multiple "black boxes" with lots of wires under the trim panel on the hatch (it has rear wiper and rear window heat, and rear window comes down electrically).
Finally, I check YouTube, and find that an auto shop has had this same problem after disconnecting the door latch plug when working on the rear wiper system. Eventually, they tried disconnecting the battery which shuts down the whole car computer system (its ALWAYS ON unless the battery is disconnected), then reconnecting to reboot. Bingo, rear latch worked fine. Apparently the computer system had noted that the rear latch had been disconnected (remember, the computers are ALWAYS ON) and had blocked off the "malfunctioning system" until a full reboot was done.
Imagining that "disconnecting" or "bypassing" some unwanted function in a modern car (or tractor) will be simple is a fantasy. A retired mechanic friend told me that in the 2005 era the VWs that he worked on at a dealership had 45 separate CPUs. I found this difficult to believe, but he said that every system in the car got it's own CPU, and they all "talk" on a network. Left front door....CPU to run mirror, window, latch and lock. Right front door, separate CPU.....etc, etc, etc. Hard to imagine 45 separate CPUs but he assured me it was so. He was appalled, too.
Your car is a computer network of many dozens of computers. If something is wrong.....it is not simple to "remove" some function. For instance....there are no manual window winders as backup.
I'm sure that modern tractors are the same. My wife had a 2000 era large yard JD tractor. Pretty easy to work on, carb, not fuel injection, mostly simple, although it had an expensive ignition box that I had to repair once. Fortunately I could fix the bad solder joints because it cost over $200 to replace.
But her new 2021 JD is fuel injected, electronic instrument cluster.....starts and runs great, but I dread the first time something breaks.
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Proud Texan 1/10/2023 11:37:44 AM (No. 1375136)
This had to do with any computers or software on them on John Deere tractors. Modern JD tractors are as complicated with computers and electronic gadgets as any car. It makes them quite fragile with so many "cute" things to go wrong. John Deere is just like any car company trying to keep customers from being able to save money by doing their own repairs and never meet an electronic gadget that they don't love.
As another commenter wrote, most JD dealers are very willing and able to work with their customers. I have an excellent dealer about 200 yards from where I am typing sitting inside my own shop. Most are not quite that handy physically, but are still great neighbors.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Strike3 1/10/2023 12:50:45 PM (No. 1375189)
Being unaware of that rule, I have regularly changed the oil and fed the grease fittings on my lawn tractor ever since I bought it. The nearest service location is two hours away and requires a trailer to haul it there. BTW Mr. Deere, I dearly love that oil change system that allows the changing of only half of your oil at a time and requires the purchase of OEM filter cartridge and oil. That is pure genius in engineering design.
0 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Vaquero45 1/10/2023 4:35:57 PM (No. 1375310)
John Deere sure is proud of that green paint. It must make their stuff REALLY exoensive.
1 person likes this.
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