Probably a question for Clive.
Does anybody discount mower spares on the net?
I have a MTD Lawnflite and have been quoted over £20 for a tiny brake block and over £40 for a belt by Shoulders of Shoreham which seem ridiculous to me. I guess with belts finding out the generic type and just ordering it from a belt supplier would be the answer but how do you work out the equivalence?
Spares on the net
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Guest
When my rotavator needed a new belt I went to a commercial vehicle belt specialist (fortunately quite close) and it only cost about £12.I suggest you measure the size required with a bit of string and take that along with you. You might end up with a transit fan belt...but if it does the job, who care!
For brake blocks, how about a car/motor bike spares place ...You can tell that I have never seen a lawn mower brake block...mine is a push along!
Good luck with the search!
For brake blocks, how about a car/motor bike spares place ...You can tell that I have never seen a lawn mower brake block...mine is a push along!
Good luck with the search!
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Clive.
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Hello Geoff,
Shoulders of Shorham and possibly Bartrams?? are the only ones with online facilities that I am aware of in UK. I have not dealt with either.. but I believe Shoulders may have accepted some overseas orders with regard Qualcast/Atco products which have become a problem in some countries in recent times.
Many suppliers have an online presence but not online ordering.
Perhaps in the case of Lawnflite...try www.barrus.co.uk and see if there is a local agent who is knowledgable on subject.
I would much favour tracking down a long establised local mower agency and have a chat with a storeman that hopefully will know his stuff and know all the hints and kinks of the machinery in question.
I remember here the local main Ransomes agent in Lincolnshire...their storeman seemed to know what you needed before you rang up.!!.
Don't worry Geoff....the rest of my reply is about to wander off into my reminiscing again....and is in no way aimed at you or anyone else...just a few of my general thoughts and observations on the mower spares scene of a few years ago..
Mower spares supplies tended not to be run on the same system as car parts...there were no young folk whizzing round the country with 2 deliveries a day of mower spares for the domestic mower scene as there are for the car world. Also the discount structure for spares in the mower world is much tighter than the discounts available for regular car parts.
The smaller mower repairer is often up against it as if he has to order in a part for a mower it is often a one off spare for one of the hundreds of mower makes and thousands of model variations...so he calls the county agent or the importer and finds that the part come under the minimum order...so perhaps the part comes in net... then some postage gets added..and this then leaves a small margin to be applied before the part reaches the counter..all the way through this chain the price is slowly creeping up.
The whole mower spares supply chain being much smaller means that spares end up costing more anyway..as it is the mower manufaturers/importers supply system that is being paid for rather than the actual materials used.!!
When I worked in the mower world I loved setting customers up with spares.. that they often assured me they could not find elsewhere...that was a real buzz...but the bit I hated was plucking up the courage to tell them the price of the item.!!!
It was not unknown for gaskets to be blown at the counter.!!.. I may have reached in the stores for a set of points for an older chainsaw..they were in stock and all was happy..."£11 Sir"....but of course the same chap had just been for a set for his Mini at the local car spares shop..£1-50 perhaps..then sold in enourmous volume and as a pattern part.. hence the blown gasket.!!
The customer would naturally assume we had marked the item up.. for a big killing..!!..not so. If this was a regular spares item that had come on a bulk order we had also paid £11 less our small discount....but sadly the customer would imagine we had turned £1-50 into £11...
Aside from one off spares that often came in net.. discounts were small..It was great to do some detective work and work out who really made a machine rather than who stuck tht badge onto it...then just sometimes we could get one step back in the spares chain and achieve a cheaper spares item for which we could then pass on a more cost effective item in a repair or for once make a fraction more to make up for all the rainy days and the slack Winter months...
I ought to give up typing at this point...as I get very soapbox with regard mower spares.. even though my work has been elsewhere for the past 15+ years.
I have always too remained a supporter of the genuine part.. were still readily available...it can sometimes cost a little more....but if it is the part that the original manufacturer/importer purveys for the machine as standard then it usually a case of it fitting without further work and adjustment..and thus can be cheaper in the long run.
When no longer readily available or obsolete then it is great to find the equivalent part and have a machine returned to service... I am not knocking that avenue...machines are made to be out working.. and another great love of mine is to see a long idle machine (from many scenes)...get up and run again..
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showth ... ge=4&pp=30
Hope the lawnflite is soon flying again..
All the best,
Clive.
Shoulders of Shorham and possibly Bartrams?? are the only ones with online facilities that I am aware of in UK. I have not dealt with either.. but I believe Shoulders may have accepted some overseas orders with regard Qualcast/Atco products which have become a problem in some countries in recent times.
Many suppliers have an online presence but not online ordering.
Perhaps in the case of Lawnflite...try www.barrus.co.uk and see if there is a local agent who is knowledgable on subject.
I would much favour tracking down a long establised local mower agency and have a chat with a storeman that hopefully will know his stuff and know all the hints and kinks of the machinery in question.
I remember here the local main Ransomes agent in Lincolnshire...their storeman seemed to know what you needed before you rang up.!!.
Don't worry Geoff....the rest of my reply is about to wander off into my reminiscing again....and is in no way aimed at you or anyone else...just a few of my general thoughts and observations on the mower spares scene of a few years ago..
Mower spares supplies tended not to be run on the same system as car parts...there were no young folk whizzing round the country with 2 deliveries a day of mower spares for the domestic mower scene as there are for the car world. Also the discount structure for spares in the mower world is much tighter than the discounts available for regular car parts.
The smaller mower repairer is often up against it as if he has to order in a part for a mower it is often a one off spare for one of the hundreds of mower makes and thousands of model variations...so he calls the county agent or the importer and finds that the part come under the minimum order...so perhaps the part comes in net... then some postage gets added..and this then leaves a small margin to be applied before the part reaches the counter..all the way through this chain the price is slowly creeping up.
The whole mower spares supply chain being much smaller means that spares end up costing more anyway..as it is the mower manufaturers/importers supply system that is being paid for rather than the actual materials used.!!
When I worked in the mower world I loved setting customers up with spares.. that they often assured me they could not find elsewhere...that was a real buzz...but the bit I hated was plucking up the courage to tell them the price of the item.!!!
It was not unknown for gaskets to be blown at the counter.!!.. I may have reached in the stores for a set of points for an older chainsaw..they were in stock and all was happy..."£11 Sir"....but of course the same chap had just been for a set for his Mini at the local car spares shop..£1-50 perhaps..then sold in enourmous volume and as a pattern part.. hence the blown gasket.!!
The customer would naturally assume we had marked the item up.. for a big killing..!!..not so. If this was a regular spares item that had come on a bulk order we had also paid £11 less our small discount....but sadly the customer would imagine we had turned £1-50 into £11...
Aside from one off spares that often came in net.. discounts were small..It was great to do some detective work and work out who really made a machine rather than who stuck tht badge onto it...then just sometimes we could get one step back in the spares chain and achieve a cheaper spares item for which we could then pass on a more cost effective item in a repair or for once make a fraction more to make up for all the rainy days and the slack Winter months...
I ought to give up typing at this point...as I get very soapbox with regard mower spares.. even though my work has been elsewhere for the past 15+ years.
I have always too remained a supporter of the genuine part.. were still readily available...it can sometimes cost a little more....but if it is the part that the original manufacturer/importer purveys for the machine as standard then it usually a case of it fitting without further work and adjustment..and thus can be cheaper in the long run.
When no longer readily available or obsolete then it is great to find the equivalent part and have a machine returned to service... I am not knocking that avenue...machines are made to be out working.. and another great love of mine is to see a long idle machine (from many scenes)...get up and run again..
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showth ... ge=4&pp=30
Hope the lawnflite is soon flying again..
All the best,
Clive.
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Richard
Hello Geoff
I too live in the Forest of Bowland, well 100 yards outside the “Sign of the Hawk” so I can’t quite weigh up why you are shopping in Shoreham.
Bowland is quite a large area so if you live near Lancaster McGaffigans of Bolton le Sands are quite good on belts and are Lawnflite agents. If you are near the Preston end take your old belt to Swan Bearings they should be able to match it. Bearing Services (BSL) is just across the road if Swan Bearings can’t do it. The suggestion of a brake reliner is a good one too, though many have gone onto service exchange rather than doing it themselves.
Richard
I too live in the Forest of Bowland, well 100 yards outside the “Sign of the Hawk” so I can’t quite weigh up why you are shopping in Shoreham.
Bowland is quite a large area so if you live near Lancaster McGaffigans of Bolton le Sands are quite good on belts and are Lawnflite agents. If you are near the Preston end take your old belt to Swan Bearings they should be able to match it. Bearing Services (BSL) is just across the road if Swan Bearings can’t do it. The suggestion of a brake reliner is a good one too, though many have gone onto service exchange rather than doing it themselves.
Richard
Hi Geoff,
I too own an MTD Lawnfite and I was quoted £26.00.
for the large belt, to which I think you refer, and took it to the Agri-engineers in Knighton and there I got an equivalent belt for £12.00. including VAT so alternatives are about. I do think that it pays to shop around. The relacement belt was exact in every dimension.
I too own an MTD Lawnfite and I was quoted £26.00.
for the large belt, to which I think you refer, and took it to the Agri-engineers in Knighton and there I got an equivalent belt for £12.00. including VAT so alternatives are about. I do think that it pays to shop around. The relacement belt was exact in every dimension.
JB.