BS. there is NOTHING that stops a mechanic or farmer from working on their own equipment John Deere or any brand. Just don't expect to get warranty reimbursement or the loan or access to proprietary diagnostic equipment that those companies spent millions and time to produce for THEIR dealers. Those local dealers have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in THEIR hometown dealerships and need to somehow after the sale to pay their manufacturer trained mechanics and staff employees. You have a bakery and customers start asking you for the recipes and you say sorry "proprietary". They go get a judge to tell you have to give your customers the recipes so they can make their own. Now how do you pay your workers with the reduced business? Yeah, not the same but that's why the local small business selling EVERY brand farm equipment is worried that they will lose income that they invested tens of thousands of dollars into providing a product and service. I buy a JD or any other brand and I want to work on it I will but I'm not going to get p!$$ed if my local JD dealer doesn't loan or rent their diagnostic equipment. I'll just take it to "Billy-Bob's Tractor and Diesel shop in the old Texico station by the old Icehouse.
What you're not comprehending is that with todays technology Deere is locking BIlly Bob's access to the needed software/ programs required to diagnose their equipment. We're not talking about hydraulics and Diesel injectors but rather GPS, engine management, and a host of other additions that cannot be diagnosed without the technology used to create them.
