What's the difference other than about 50% of the price on some parts? Is it stuff that Cat has overstocked and is just sitting on shelves that they can afford to sell that cheap? I had a new part and a classic part in hand and it was pretty much identical. The classic parts have the newer ###-#### 7 number both on the box and on the parts, so thats kinda of making me believe that its not old parts.
maybe this will help a little. https://dealer.cat.com/cda/files/132368/7/Classic Parts - Customer Presentation Jan 2012.pdf
Lee, that's probably real interesting, and as soon as I become a Cat dealer, I'm gonna read it. Thanks anyway, Mitch
I just replaced the lower oil filled bucket pins on a 980c, regular cat price was $800.00 per. Cat classic was $330.00 per, makes it hard not to try. The quality looked fine.
As far as I've been told Cat Classic parts are aftermarket parts sold by Cat.
Near all the CAT Classic parts are now from China, the bits that used to come from Italy that people used to moan about now come from a place that is struggling with engineering confidence with the rest of the World, all your CAT socks, vests and hats also come via the same long road.
A mob I used to do a do a lot of work for had a heap of Cat scrapers and used that Italian stuff . How do you bore a hole for a pin shaped like a carrot ?
Thanks for sending me the link Lee but its a LOG IN link. I called the manager of our Alban Reman shop and asked him about the difference yesterday. Basically you're gonna get what you pay for. Not saying that Classic parts are junk but its just THAT. All parts are identical, interchangable, and have the same dimensions all over as a Cat Regular part. The main difference is in the hardness of the metal. I had to replace 2 housings inside the transmission of the 980 and the Classic parts were a lot cheaper. Here's where you need to think....Classic parts are great if you have an old D6 or something for example that only gets used every so often and it doesnt get the **** ran out of it. Its a cost effective replacement good for repair or if you need to fix something up and get rid of it. Down inside the belly of a transmission on a machine that's run every day....not a good place to use Classic parts. I did use 2 bearings and a cap that were Classic on the center pins of the hitch. Not really something that would be hard to take care of if something did fail.
This is kind of the reasoning behind the Classic parts. If a guy has a machine that he runs once a month to clear out some trees, they are a great way to save some money. If you are running the machine regularly, stay away. Either way, I would not use them on anything internal. I would only be using them for easy to change parts.