[D-Dogg]

We all lament the lack of availability of some parts for our 990s.

Obviously things like a dash are simply not going to be found un-cracked. But, other things we need are oddball things that don't show up a lot on Ebay.

Beyond the dash, what are the parts you would like to see available, and what would think is a reasonable price for them?

 

[Kingwood990]

I would like to see steering gears become available. On both of my 990's they are fine but they are a wear item. If these were to become available I would buy a few of them for future use. I would think that 25$ a piece would be reasonable.

 

[Rohan]

I am with you on the steering gears. I think spindles are worth 50 a piece if beefed up a little. And of course my seat spring and foot rest lol. Ebay is a great thing but some people think things are worth alot more then they are. Another thing i thought up a 3 point i would pay for 100 or more.

 

[D-Dogg]

A few I've seen requested, or even needed myself are: a right footrest (to recover from foot control conversions); hydro lever tension spring; rear rim; rear axle shafts (broken 3PH arm ears); belt guards; original mufflers; PTO pulleys; starter generators.

The "waste" parts from a parts machine, as it seems to me would be the hood, fenders, front grill, frame, and transmission (never heard of a trashed one). These are basically low demand parts which wouldn't fit in a storage tote very easily, and wouldn't be worth a guys while to keep for more than a month while they list on EBay.

So let's say a guy had to give $200 for a non-runner to part out, no deck or implements, do you think he could break even in a month?

 

[Rohan]

Well the frame may be useful for some with the dreaded hole. It might take a little longer then a month. I would drop 100 right now for the seat spring, foot rest and the carb linkage. Since only way i can control my throttle is by adjusting the idle screw. I can honestly say with my set up i have never pushed my tractor simple because i cant throttle up lol.

Some people might need fenders. I believe the grill is cast aluminium so you can scrap that and get some cash. If the piston for the attachment lift is good thats worth something. And of course the hydro pump. I believe some fords gt can use them, theu just have to reverse the rotation. I honestly think some one could actually see a profit doing this. Problems i see is it can only be done once in a while since parts would be flooding the market. But thats my 2 cent. I am in Arizona and i search CL and everything is east coast. So i am stuck with ebay, but i am like many of you guys. You guys helped me get my tractor up an going and it actually works lol. I would rather buy parts from some one on mtf and help them out then some guy on ebay.

 

[flejl]

D-Dogg,

If you know where a non running 990 is in PA, let me know, for $200 I would pick it up fast!

I like the idea of working together to find a parts tractor, it could work like a "group buy" that I have seen on other web forums.

Right now I am looking for a left front axle, but would be very happy to find a whole parts tractor.

I live on the east coast and the only one I have seen for sale recently was way up north and the owner was not interested in shipping it based upon his lack of response when I asked...

 

[SOLUTION]

Steering gears are available for later model 990's.
$25 wont buy them though.
-
A small right angle reduction gearbox can be had for a reasonable price and would offer many benefits in correcting the cheesey set up these tractors came with.

 

[SOLUTION]

I have complete three point set ups for 990's that are way beefier than these tractors ever came with. I designed them from scratch as a category "0". If you look at some of my older posts, i think there are some pics of the set up. I believe I made 6 sets and have only used 2 or 3. The parts are cnc machined, mig welded and have all the pins. I am not sure how much I have into them but may consider selling some sets to forum members.
When building my tractors, If I could have purchased brand new sets made by someone for $100 that were of the same quality as the ones we built, I most certaintly would have. The steps involved are more than meet the eye.

 

[SOLUTION]

Spindles are another part I chose not to reuse, they are a terrible design all around. IMO the problem starts with the spindle diameter it self, the axle needs a 1" spindle and the geometry needs to be corrected, again in my old posts alot of it is covered, unfortunately some machining and fabrication is in order.
-
There was a time when it was feasable to put money into these tractors, since they had no market value and most could be gotten for darn near free, and then sticking $300-500 into them wasnt painful because you had a **** of a tractor for cheap. Thanks to this forum (which is great btw) people think these are gold, when in fact the only things decent on them is the transaxle and engine.

 

[SOLUTION]

I am not trying to sound like the grinch, I love my 990's, but I have yet to see one of these tractors that the driveshaft and pump bushing didnt need work to aviod eventually ruining the hydro. It is unreal the effect of a screwed up drive shaft has on EVERY pivoting joint in the tractor. My red 990 is a good example. I have yet to see one with a respectable dash or steering that was considered decent. A non running one of these to me is worth the price of gas to get it,if it were less than an hour away. Basically scrap metal.
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As labors of love they are fine tractors, just dont keep track of how much you have into them........it works for me.

 

[D-Dogg]

Good observations Solution. When you consider I could run to KY and buy olcowhand's Unico 15 (the uncontested holy grail of 990 restorations), for what he once offered it for, no it doesn't make a load of sense to put boatloads of money into a 990. Unless you consider it a labor of love.

Yes, they used to be a lot cheaper. I passed on one a while ago which included deck blade, and tiller (for a whopping $150). Didn't know what they were at the time and was only considering adapting the tiller to a JD 318. Stupid me, right?

I also agree we the enthusiasts are responsible for driving the prices up. Somebody has a Rusty Dayton (no pun intended) that hasn't moved in years, reads a few threads here, and suddenly figures it must be worth $1,200. JD guys do the same thing though. According to the blue book, our 318s in good condition are worth absolutely no more than $700 trade in, $900 average resale.

The thread here was a little self-serving. I was considering picking up a 990 for my kids to part out and learn to earn some pocket money. Not to get rich, but to cover expenses and have them pocket enough that they aren't begging their old man for a new DS game or whatever. And if a little work ethic showed up in the deal so much the better.

 

[flejl]

I have 2 990's that I picked up for not allot of money and use them to do work in my yard.

For the small amount of dollars invested, I think they are great, but it seems like some people believe they are made out of gold!

As some on the forum know I recently broke a front spindle, these are a real weakness on the 990 and have been trying to locate repalcement parts. Most likely I will eventually build a heavy duty front axle if/whne I get motivated, but in the end, the whole complete running tractor only cost me $250 to buy, so instead of investing insane amounts of money in it, if it becomes unrepairable at some point, it becomes my parts tractor for the other 990.

People, these things are not rare expensice exotic cars, they are only garden tractors! I use mine as a tool, maybe I am just not looking at this the same as others on the forum.

 

[Polardropbear]

With a lot of these things it can come down what the cost of a replacement would be. If you bought a brand new replacement to do everything that you current machine how much would it cost? Also for those that have children, would it be useful to your kids in future or is it just extra junk around the yard. Being on 5 acres I'd like to have a few of the 990's but since they are rare as hens teeth in Australia it's unlikely that I will find one in a reasonable price range.

 

[SOLUTION]

Cost of replacement looks to be about $500.......

 

[flejl]

In the end it is only a tool. I use mine to do work and make my life easier.

With the way the prices of 990's seem to be going, I should be able to sell mine and retire very soon!

I think people are getting crazy about these things, they are good garden tractors, and compared to John Deer models, are much less expensive. Until recently, for a few hundred dollars you could get one that was complete, and with a little work, you had something decent.

On the down side, they do have there problems and no parts available from dealers, compared to my two Ford LGT's that I can still order parts from New Holland...

Anyway, for those of you that have way more money then brains:

For Sale - I have two 990 Tractors for sale for sale.
Tractor #1 has an FEL and 3 pt hitch is available for the very low price of $100,000.
Tractor #2 has a 48" mower deck and 3 pt hitch for only $75,000.

If you want to take both, they are available as a package deal for the bargin price of $150,000. I can even provide delivery for the low rate of $100 per loaded mile.

What a deal!

 

[gburnett]

Go price a new tractor that will do what a 990 can do and then consider what the cost of a nice used 990 is to the new one.Probably will come in somewhere around 5%.Cheap Cheap Cheap.

 

[D-Dogg]

On the other hand, let's take a trip to wallyworld, kmart, homedepot, lowes, etc, and see what we can get in the way of a garden tractor for $500. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero.

My personal opinion is that a running, working, GT of most any vintage is worth $500. I've paid less than that for all my 990s, but have dumped nearly that into one or more of them. Consider that the rear tires cost $135 each. A battery $50. It's not too long until you are upside down.

A parts machine, they are worth less, depending on the quality of parts and demand for them.

In all, I think the opinions are pretty typical. If you have one for sale, it's worth a lot. If you are trying to buy one, they are not worth much. Not my intent to insult anyone, but that's human nature.

But the purpose of the thread was to help me decide whether to buy a parts machine for the kids to part out. 130 mile round trip to get it, not sure what I will have to give for it, but I only see demand for maybe $150 in parts. Add in a can of PB Blaster and degreaser, and I ask how much it's going to cost me to put some parts out here.

I'm not asking folks to pre-order, I'm just trying to gauge serious interest so I can make a decision.

 

[gburnett]

You're upside down in one respect but if you're going to keep it and use it, it'll be the cheapest unit per hr you can ever find to use.Go buy a $10,000 tractor that do about the same amount of work and you'll loose around $3000 when you take it off the dealers lot.

 

[ggsteve]

D-Dogg, to try and bring this back to your original question, it depends. There are parts that I need that are absolutely essential to make the tractor "go", and I'll pay a premium for those. There are also the "nice to have" parts that I might order for no premium and combined shipping for an item I really need. I've done this a number of times with Joe's Outdoor Power, especially when his auctions used to start at a buck!

 

[D-Dogg]

D-Dogg, to try and bring this back to your original question, it depends. There are parts that I need that are absolutely essential to make the tractor "go", and I'll pay a premium for those. There are also the "nice to have" parts that I might order for no premium and combined shipping for an item I really need. I've done this a number of times with Joe's Outdoor Power, especially when his auctions used to start at a buck!

I don't think I'll have premium versus non-premium prices, ggsteve. I'm just trying to figure out whether to pull the trigger on this, not trying to get rich. On parts which are still available, sure, I'll figure a working S/G ought to be worth some percentage of the $225 or so a remanufactured one goes for. One of the reman places I looked at charges $50 as a core. Others require no core.

Another thing I was trying to figure out is how far to have the kids break things down. Offer the whole rear end? or disassemble everything to smaller whole assemblies such as the axle shafts, brake calipre, transmission, etc? Do I bundle items into pairs or sets (sell one 3PH arm, or a pair of 3PH arms with the lift arms)? Do I sell carb springs or a whole carb? And with or without the air cleaner?

Then what about customer satisfaction? If I sent you a S/G that worked only a half dozen more times after I tested it out, am I a dirtbag, or were you taking a risk acceptable to you, knowing you could have dropped $225 and gotten a warranty from an outfit regularly engaged in the business of S/Gs?

The only 990 I've seen parted out on EBay, the fellow was asking $20 OBO for most of the items he listed. A lot of his auctions ended with no takers. I thought that was very cheap for many of the items.

I wouldn't be considering this at all except that the 990 is pretty well outside JOP's primary area of interest, and it seems a lot of the guys truly need parts. On my part, I already have tractors outside under tarps, so if I get another, it needs to disappear quickly.

And it's a learning experience for the kids. The mileage is a wash, as I need to make the trip for a couple of other reasons. I'm just looking to cover the cost of the tractor and let them earn $30 or so each to appreciate working for their money.