I just purchased my first machine, so I am a newbie to whole diesel engines and skid steers. I have used a bobcat in the past quite a bit, but it was always a rental or a buddy's machine. After researching the JCBs and really my budget, I purchased this machine the other day. It's a 1998 JCB 185 Robot Series 3. I have the service manual on the computer as well. I was unsure where people have been able to get parts for these machines. I am extremely handy when it comes to working on engines and various mechanical items so I am not worried about working on the machine myself, but every place I find asks for part numbers for the items I am looking for. I wanted to see where people have had the best luck finding these replacement/spare parts. I am unsure if I should be searching for Perkins parts or JCB parts, or what.. I know companies like New Holland make it super easy with their exploded views of their machines, but I have yet to find anything remotely similar.. especially seeing JCB seems to be based over seas.. Everything seems to be working well, I am excited to put it to light work later this week but unfortunately not able to get a mechanic to look everything over until next week after this first job. I am a little concerned about a pretty loud knock noise that I think might be a little more than the usual diesel engine noise.. any help or advise on the new machine would be appreciated!! Thanks!
The best advice I can give you would be to go to www.jcbna.com and use their dealer locator to find your nearest JCB dealer. Then, give them a call with your machine and engine serial numbers handy, and they should certainly be able to look up the parts you need and give you pricing. You do not have to go to Perkins directly for engine parts. Your dealership should be able to source those items for you with no problem. If you have trouble, shoot me a message and I'll see if I can help you out any further. Good luck, and welcome to HEF.
Dont forget your checkbook. I think you will be money ahead to go through Perkins to get engine parts rather than JCB. Price it both ways but you find that the pricing on JCB parts are high.
Certainly can be true in some instances.....if you have a good dealer, however, there are things they can do to lobby JCB to reduce pricing if it seems excessively out of line. The blanket statement that all JCB parts are expensive is simply untrue though. That would be like me saying that all Case SSL's are junk because we have had bad luck with one SV185.....you have obviously proven us to the contrary with your TR320.
i find that parts are high priced no matter who you get them from. one of the cows just broke the front window on the jcb it will be interesting to see what that costs. im guessing less than the bobcat cuz the window is flat not curved. i think the oil filter for our jcb was around 13 dollars.
Dave, I think you will be satisfied with the pricing on the front glass, fairly reasonable in my opinion.
Certainly there maybe some exceptions, but JCB parts in general are considered expensive. I was speaking to an equipment broker the other day who brought in a late 90s JCB skid steer to sell. He started quoting me parts that needed to be replaced and their costs. Its was incredible. I had a Vibromax roller, JCB bought out Vibromax and I had to get my parts from the JCB dealer. I paid $300 for a hydrualic filter, for an example, it was crazy. Certainly if you can go directly through a Perkings dealer you are eliminating a hand to feed (in this case your JCB dealer).
If the cost for the glass from the dealer is high, a local glass company should be able to cut one out of appropriate safety glass.