AGCO Orange Death nail

AGCO lost my faith earlier in the year. I proudly purchased a White 6144 in the late 90's. Soon the BRAND was no longer important and was phased out. Then the troubles started. This tractor was nothing but a nightmare to get parts for. Over the past two years it was in the shop for 18 months. They could never find the matching part number. It took them months to find a simple driveline coupler to match. They would have to send the broken part off and have special built. It was almost comical as if this machine was a prototype built from non production parts. The dealer was super frustrated and I was irrate. lots of $$$ later I finally made the decsion to get rid of it for a JD. I have never owned a Deere but felt no other choice. We will see how it turns out but I have decided that AGCO, a company I want to succeed, will have to prosper without my particiaption. I hope the WHITE issue I had doesn't repeat for all of you AGCO guys. Good Luck.

One way to get AGCO's attention is to use the media. I know that may seem a little far fetched or stupid...but you get the word out that people are not happy....they will listen. Write AGCO a letter/email. WE are what keeps them going..they need US! Let them know that.

"Better By Design"

I bet the Rumley people were this upset too. And the United Tractor people. Didn't Allis Chalmers buy the Buda Engine Company too? Wasn't there a time when AC was the huge corporation gobbling up smaller companies and killing brand names?

That being said, My folks own 2 DT 240's, a smaller agco allis, and they're great tractors. I was proud that they were built by the Allis Gleaner Co. BUT there's nothing like farming with my brother who runs an 8070 and R62. And hearing the UC growl on the auger makes me smile.

I'm really going to miss orange paint.

If anyone want to send a love letter to AGCO:

Public Relations

Rebecca Fabian

Stockheim Media
501 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2108
New York, NY 10017
USA

E-Mail: rf@stockheim-media.com

It is important to know one fact about this entire travesty, one man is responsible for it all. The stubborn prick from Germany! Nearly all of the company personnel knows what a mistake this is. The brand that is a distant 3rd in NA sales - MF, The brand the was fabricated a few short years ago and their CAT distribution which now appears to be crumbling - Challenger, and with all of these facts, this knot kills the golden (Orange) goose. I think the best thing to happen is for bankruptcy! Maybe this will wake up the "good old boy" club which is the board of directors.

Jordan(OH) wrote:

All along they said they couldn't name a tractor Allis-Chalmers because of naming rights, then they drop Allis from the name. Then Briggs can come out with a lawn tractor with Allis-Chalmers and the logo on it, but AGCO can't use the name? Yeah right. Shows me they never were interested in using the name.

Yep that thought ran across my mind too when I heard about the lawn tractors.

Maybe it will take the North American sales to tank from this bonehead move to make them see the light on the value of the Allis brand. I wonder how well the lawn tractor has sold overall. I have heard nothing but positive news here from some dealers, but that doesnt give me the complete picture..

We got to face the truth. WE're beating a dead horse. Keep the orange for nostalgia. Dont count on agco. They dont care about us.

As long as there are dealers and parts sales there will be parts for the orange tractors. I had a guy come in to work on Friday and order a bunch of parts for an Oliver 66. Thats a tractor that is fifty years old and has been through three corporations now. So like I said as long as there are dealers there will be parts.

Jim

The big question is, 'What about parts??' We need someone to answer this! I farm with all orange, but if I can't get any more parts, then I will have to change!

It sucks that they are dropping orange, they just don't gget it. Massey sucks and Challenger is a made up brand, in a company that already had too many.

Asf ar as Kubota, MI. has tons of dealers, most family owned and their tractors are very well built. I got an M9000 this summer and it is my favorite already, never thoguht i'd say it but I love that Jap tractor. Deere could take a hydraulics lesson from them.

JimIA wrote:

Yes, we got the letter today. Orange tractors will be built through 2010 and through 2011 per customers orders. What could be an even bigger mistake is they are taking out Fendt too!

Heres the good news. They say in the letter that "AGCO is committed ot the Silver Gleaner transvers combine. Dont let anyone tell you its not." That is an exact quote from AGCO. They say they have done alot of updates in the last few years and also say "The best is yet to come".

I'm not gonna say anymore, there will be enough complaining. All I can say is dont go out and buy green and if I ever meet Richenhagen in person he is gonna be called alot of names by me, a fair amount of them will be four letter words.

Jim

Hudsonator wrote:

I think I've said this before, but I had a long conversation with the Massey folks at Louisville and really gave them a hard time over the loss of the Perkins engines. They had a good explanation, the tractors are manufactured in India and India won't allow engines built out of their country to be used in tractors meant for sale in India. So, to comply and get the smaller tractors built in India for sale in the country- the Sisu had to the be engine.

My only reply was, "America should have some laws like that". The conversation ended right there.

I believe the tractors you are referring to (the MF 2600 Series) use a Simpson engine - not a SISU engine - if you would do your research you would know that Simpson engines are and have been a Perkins licensee for over 40 years. Yes they are built in India, but if you would strip the decals off, you would find you are looking at a Perkins engine.

By the way, if the 2600's had the SISU engine that would be the best utility on the market. It's tough to beat the SISU motor, probably one of the best available worldwide.

Hello Byron. You say you want to buy American made but Kubota is made in Japan.

I use a lot of Kubota engines in generators and think they make a good engine but the tractors are very lightly built. Just not enough iron in my opinion.

The deutz/SLH could be alright for utility and livestock work. I don't think they would make a good field work tractor though.

My first pick for non Agco would still be McCormick. I do like Massey though myself. My first tractor ride on my dad's lap was on a MH33.

I became a Massey Fan, but then I'm a small-mid size tractor user. We went to Louisville to the machinery show this past February - and they lost me right there on the spot with the Sisu engine. Massey had the best package of time tested ruggedness and simplicity out there for the money in that size tractor, they've gone and screwed up hopelessly.

I hate to say it, but AGCO's days as a US concern are numbered unless they wise up.

I think I've said this before, but I had a long conversation with the Massey folks at Louisville and really gave them a hard time over the loss of the Perkins engines. They had a good explanation, the tractors are manufactured in India and India won't allow engines built out of their country to be used in tractors meant for sale in India. So, to comply and get the smaller tractors built in India for sale in the country- the Sisu had to the be engine.

My only reply was, "America should have some laws like that". The conversation ended right there.

Mark

Edited by Hudsonator - 14 Nov 2009 at 7:30am

There isn't much a WC can't do.

WD's just do it better.

Redline,
I agree, it is about the AC legacy . That's why I bought AGCO equipment. Like I've said I always looked at it as the Allis Gleaner Company. But now I agree with others that it died. That's the saddest part to me. Looking back, unlike others, I think it still lived on up until the last few years through it's employees, dealers, orange paint and heritage parts. Now the employees are gone, don't care or don't have a voice. The Dealers are getting shoved out and the orange paint is gone. They still have parts but for how long?

Why Kubota? Right now they seem to be the best option out there.

Believe it or not John Deere fits my profile in that I pay more to buy American made products. I probably will look at them to see which tractors are actually made in the US and if they just assemble some foreign parts or if it's actually made here. If I like what I see maybe I'll go there though that is hard for me to imagine stomaching right now.

CNH products are inconsistent. They have a nice bi-directional tractor, (from Versatile), I've always liked and I like their new 8N. I don't care for blue and the Czech made red tractors seem like junk to me. You can get their bi-directional tractor yellow and that would match up well with Landoll and Vermeer.

I like Mahindra but doubt I'd go there. Their a heavy built tractor with value and I've had a soft heart for India since I've had some friends from there.

McCormick is nice but I just found out their owned by the Italians now and their tractors are made there too so I gotta base their tractor on merit and I don't think it'll stand up to Kubota or Deutz.

Deutz/SAME/SLH whatever is actually pretty interesting to me. They have opened up two small dealers close to me in the last couple of years. They have been around a long time and haven't had the latest transmissions but their engines have been hard to beat. They offer some models that run on SVO which really appeals to me. And, I bet shortly you'll be able to get an orange one in the US as I would think the AGCO contract will go out and the orange and green ones are made in the same factory.

Versatile is too big for me and I think their owned by the Russians now or something like that.

JCB is very appealing to me. I think their tractors and skid steers are high quality, unique and have great features. With AGCO bowing to investors and dumping farmers I LOVE the fact that JCB is still family owned. Their smallest tractor is like 130 PTO which I could make work.

So back to why Kubota? In most cases their cheaper than AGCO, JD and Case. They have an excellent reputation for quality. They make their own engines, transmission, etc. which most companies don't. Their fuel efficient. I have more Kubota dealers around me than anybody else and all but one is family owned. And, as a bonus, their orange.

I will tell you that I won't buy the AC 7000 now and I won't ever sell my grandpas WC but doubt that I'll buy another AC. Dealer support is dwindling and I truly believe, as I've said, I think AGCO will shove out the parts like they've shoved out the orange. They may just do it by raising prices but probably will just make more and more unavailable. I emailed AGCO back in June about the rumors that parts were going away and orange paint was going away. Based on an email I got from AGCO's Todd Stucke saying parts will and orange paint will be there as long as people buy them I bought an ST compact with loader, mower and a tiller. So he lied about the orange how can I trust them about keeping parts?

Thanks for the therapy guys. I doubt many read my long rant but it's good to vent right now.

Byron

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