Does the Caterpillar part numbering system mean anything? Sometimes, like inner and outer air filters, two parts will have part numbers the same apart from the last digit. However sometimes they are completely different. Lots of their oil and fuel filters start with the prefix 1R-? But plenty of others don't. Just wondering if there is any logic behind how the part numbers are allocated?
I have never known of any logic in their parts system. I've seen other manufactures that may have had some kind of logic but nothing I could figure out in Cat. Sometimes I think they do odd things just to throw off other manufacturers.
I have no clue about reasoning of numbers but I can say that many part numbers are superseded by new numbers, some a number of times. Many believe this was to insure people went to the dealer to buy the new machine parts instead of using an after market one that could be looked up by the old number for the same parts. Not sure of the reasoning myself.
It does seam weird that part numbers will change 3-4-5 times over a few years. doesn't matter who it is JD, Cat, Case Even parts stores like Napa. They must have all gone to the same school.
Some numbers make a little sense like those for some orings numbers are more or less in a series but most of them appear that they printed up all the possible number combinations and tossed them in a hat and when they need to assign a number someone reaches in and grabs one out! A bit off in left field but some companies do, at times, use a little logic to some numbers. One example I know of is Yamaha. One example these two numbers: 97301-06060-00 and 97301-06055-00. At a glance they don't seem to tell you anything but if you know the code you would know they are both 6mm bolt and the first one was 60mm long and the second one is 55mm long. It is not 100% fool proof but is good most of the time.
Going deep back in my memory, and I can't remember where I heard it, but... it seems like it was reliable at the time. For at least this one company, most times when the part number changed for no other reason, he could look into the details and find that the supplier had changed.
From what I remember in dealing with Fabick the change of supplier was the reason for numbers changes. Some small variant to the part to keep from copy right infringement so too the p/n had to change. As to the system, it was something the engineers came up with and may as noted be as random as a hat pick.
Are parts' numbers really numbers or are they names spelled digitally? Don't know that this thought adds to the conservation, and it certainly doesn't provide any understanding of why the names of parts change, seemingly willy-nilly.
Well as many of these part numbers go back to before anyone at Cat had heard of "digital" I doubt that is a possibility!
Thanks, Kshansen, I was most unclear. A parts "number" is really just somebody''s (Cat's, Case's, Deere's, etc.) name for something. They could have used words, but the parts numbers are just nicknames for each part. Again, mine is probably a useless contribution.
Well here is one example where Cat almost made sense with part numbers: This is a list of what is commonly called "D" ring seals. You will note that they all have the same material and axial width. Only difference is the "ID" and "OD". The real common ones follow a progression from 1P3700 up to 1P3709. But it seems after those were assigned numbers in a nice sequence someone found a need to design something that took different sizes than the "original batch" so now someone had to reach into that Proverbial Hat and grab some numbers to assign to the new sizes!
As a guess and I have had several years of CAT parts experience, what you see in that table probably happened in reverse order... the odd part numbers were assigned one at a time as they were used in manufacturing of whatever machine or attachment required them... then when it came time for CAT hose and hose ends to be supplied and sold, they filled in the rest of the sizes by using the 1P numbers. YMMV There is some sense in the system but it was started so long ago most of it has probably been lost. CAT ran out of number letter combinations long ago and shifted to the phone number system. One of my favorites was the 0R set, all remans. of course they eventually ran out of those (and they never reuse a number, to my knowledge) so they had to add 10R to the system.
Another little bit of useless trivia is that it's common for injection lines to have the cylinder number as the last digit of the part number. For example, if you have a #1 cylinder injection line with part number 4N9941, it's a fair bet that the #6 line will be 4N9946.
Neat info here, albeit maybe useless trivia as Cmark stated, nevertheless, I find working with Cat part numbers to be an absolute pleasure. I frequently have to work with Kobelco part numbers, like hydraulic filter YN52V01011P1. Assembling a parts list using numbers like that will make your eyes go cross eyed after a while, there's no way I could deal with being a Kobelco parts guy all day every day, I'd go bonkers! At least Cat keeps it relatively simple.
And it is even easier if you have access to Cat Parts store. Look up the parts online and just click on the box in the quantity column and it will default to the quantity for that location then click on the box order parts and it is in the parts order form and if the machine the parts are for was in you equipment list the packing slip will have the equipment number and S/N printed right on it. Even better is if you have several of the same machine you can set up a "Frequent Order List" say for a 988H 2,000 hour service. one or two clicks and all the part numbers are ordered and you don't forget about the one oring for the drain plug that always drop in the drain bucket! I believe this can be set up as "private" or "shared" so for a big company with many locations they can set up this list so when a machine is moved from one area to another the new location does not have to duplicate the order form. I could see this being a good set up for a national rental outfit.