Go figure. Autozone strike again......grrrrr.

[Freightrain]

So, just over a year ago, about 15K miles since I put a set of U joints in my '95 F150.   I noticed a slight shake and figured I might as well do it.  My big mistake was NOT waiting another day and getting a set of SPICER joints at the Federated parts store next to my work.  I was home, so I just ran down the street to my local AZ and got their brand.  See where this is going??  Last month or so I've noticed a continuing vibration and it has been getting much worse over the last week.  I got under truck and wiggle everything.  Nothing felt bad.  I grease it at oil changes of 3K miles.  The only thing that stuck out was the slip yoke at transmission was kinda sloppy.   I picked up a new yoke at Summit Equipment and got home last night and plowed and then proceeded to drop the shaft to replace the yoke.  That is when it all went sideways.  I happened to grab the yoke and move it...........hmmm, this ain't right.  It had a really bad catch in it.   SMFH.   Dammit.  Too late to deal with it and no place local to get GOOD parts.  I put another shot of grease in and put it back together.   This has a companion flange on rear end and (4) bolts with 12mm 12 pt heads.  Just a PITA(laying in the snow to boot).

Today I stopped at Federated and they tried to sell me Moog joints.  Box said "made in Mexico".   I said "do you have Spicer?".   They said they just started carrying them and exchanged them for me.   They are $4/ea more then Moog, but said "made in America"(nothing about "with imported parts).  I hope to get more then 1 yr service out of them.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Freightrain

[davehummell]

Years ago you went to franconi and got really good quality points and condencers and well made switches, they closed now all i got is napa and them other crap parts pushers. My friend has a car repair garage and he has to order parts very carefully from a bunch of different suppliers being the parts are so iffy. A lot of times he gets oem parts so he somewhat can trust them. He stands by his work and crap parts costs him money and it could end up ending his good rep.

[VaPatentman]

Pretty much all of Autozone and Advance parts are Made in China. I have much better luck with NAPA and Federated. I bought a bearing from AZ and it seized after about 6,00 miles, yes I did grease it.

[BillyT]

Freightrain, I got a pair of wheel cylinders for my 92 Izuzu pu. At Autojunk, been dealing there for years! Didn't put them in for 6mos!  Made in Mexico! Warranted for 90 days! Put them in,been two years still working, but it's pretty hard to screw up a wheel cylinder! Even in Mexico! If I'd have looked at the package I wouldn't have bought them!

[Dirtymilkman]

I learned over the years that the worst thing to do to a u joint is grease it. If you grease a u joint and grease comes out, make sure it comes out all four and then clean off all grease. That u joint is good for at least 30,000 miles. Penske did a study and they only grease every 40,000 miles. Less replacements being done then when they greased at 4000 miles. 

[carlotpilot]

not very big  but the joints in my dakota have 304000 mi on them and are orig.                they`ll probably both fall out tommorow   

Edited February 9, 2018 by carlotpilot

[Hayseed]

25 minutes ago, Dirtymilkman said:

I learned over the years that the worst thing to do to a u joint is grease it. If you grease a u joint and grease comes out, make sure it comes out all four and then clean off all grease. That u joint is good for at least 30,000 miles. Penske did a study and they only grease every 40,000 miles. Less replacements being done then when they greased at 4000 miles. 

Exactly..It's surprising how many people don't "get It" though..

[Truck Shop]

                            One thing people miss on installing joints is making sure they swivel freely. Sometimes you have to wack the yokes to free them up, if it won't swivel free without

                             binding it won't last even if it's a Spicer joint. But I agree with only using Spicer brand.

 

                              Truck Shop

[h67st]

17 hours ago, Freightrain said:

So, just over a year ago, about 15K miles since I put a set of U joints in my '95 F150.   I noticed a slight shake and figured I might as well do it.  My big mistake was NOT waiting another day and getting a set of SPICER joints at the Federated parts store next to my work.  I was home, so I just ran down the street to my local AZ and got their brand.  See where this is going??  Last month or so I've noticed a continuing vibration and it has been getting much worse over the last week.  I got under truck and wiggle everything.  Nothing felt bad.  I grease it at oil changes of 3K miles.  The only thing that stuck out was the slip yoke at transmission was kinda sloppy.   I picked up a new yoke at Summit Equipment and got home last night and plowed and then proceeded to drop the shaft to replace the yoke.  That is when it all went sideways.  I happened to grab the yoke and move it...........hmmm, this ain't right.  It had a really bad catch in it.   SMFH.   Dammit.  Too late to deal with it and no place local to get GOOD parts.  I put another shot of grease in and put it back together.   This has a companion flange on rear end and (4) bolts with 12mm 12 pt heads.  Just a PITA(laying in the snow to boot).

Today I stopped at Federated and they tried to sell me Moog joints.  Box said "made in Mexico".   I said "do you have Spicer?".   They said they just started carrying them and exchanged them for me.   They are $4/ea more then Moog, but said "made in America"(nothing about "with imported parts).  I hope to get more then 1 yr service out of them.

I went all through the brakes on my '79 K2500 and bought all AC Delco parts from rockauto.com. Some of them were from China and Mexico but I'm used to AC parts being pretty good. The parts cost me way less than store brand parts from AZ or Advance. We usually buy calipers from the local stores simply because we need them right away...they usually last a year or two. I've been buying from Rock Auto for several years and I've been really happy with them.

[Freightrain]

This was a spur of the moment kinda job and it came back to bite me.  Should have just sucked it up and waited a day to get the right parts.

Yes, I do inspect the joints to see if grease comes from all four sides.  If they ares sealed well enough(so they can't get moisture inside) then greasing isn't that big of deal.  Being cheapo parts I figured I would stay on top of them...........for no good reason apparently.

[j hancock]

Hmmm....  drag racer needing to swap u-joints....  who saw that coming....?   Dang kids.....

Liked my 94 F150 and wish I still had it.  Like Spicer joints as well.

[mowerman]

Kind of depressing,,,, most of the quality parts we were buying as young kids have all moved overseas...shitty part is thier still charging American made prices....like wow man...bob


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[other dog]

I have replaced the heater control valve in my 2002 Ranger three times in the last few years. The original valve lasted about 150,000 miles with no issues, until one day the plastic piece that the heater hose connects to just snapped off. I sawed off a piece of a bumper guide stick that I got out of the junk pile at the shop- just happened to be the perfect size- and bypassed the valve altogether, but when winter rolled around I had to get a valve. Got one at NAPA, I noticed that it said "Made in China" on the box, but I put it on.

It worked fine, but it leaked from day one, just a constant drip where the metal shaft went through the plastic. I just added a little water and antifreeze every couple of weeks, no big deal- until it got annoying. 

So I went to O'reilly's Auto Parts and got another one. It only took a couple of minutes to put one one. I noticed that it said "made in China" on the box, but I put it on.

It worked fine, but it leaked from day one, just a constant drip where the metal shaft went through the plastic. I just added a little water and antifreeze every couple of weeks, no big deal- until it got annoying. 

So I ordered one from that online auto parts place and put it on. I noticed that it said "made in China" on the box, but I put it on.

It worked fine, but it leaked from day one, just a constant drip where the metal shaft went through the plastic. I just added a little water and antifreeze every couple of weeks, no big deal- until it got annoying. But at this point I didn't know what else to do, so I just add a little water and anti freeze periodically.

[davehummell]

I wonder how many china parts are on our army trucks and air force planes? I do think they could make better parts but do they want to?

[grayhair]

Sometimes I think it is actually better to get a used, made in USA part from the junk yard.  A lot of new parts from China seem to be defective from day one. 

[Dirtymilkman]

I remember when stuff made in Japan was junk. Now if something is made in Japan, it's high quality. Now the Chinese tools and parts are junk but I have been seeing a lot of stuff come from Indonesia. Is that gonna be the new China?

[davehummell]

I have been told the john deere tractors that are made in india are prone to more breakdowns than the ones made in other countrys. I have owned 5 Kubota tractors and have had no trouble with any of them. I have a small john deere 1023 to mow the grass i hope it is as reliable as the Kubota's. I have a 1975 ford 2000 that is a pretty good tractor old us made.

[j hancock]

I heard that 2013 is approx. the date when utility or smaller farm tractors had an increase in computers and emission controls.  Sort of keeping my eye out for pre '13 for the ranch because of that.

[Maxidyne]

Tier 4 Final took effect in 2014, IIRC. The low HP engines pretty much waltzed right through with little mods, nothing like the extensive mods needed for the car  and truck diesels to pass. I've got a Tier 4 compliant 2017 Deere 1023 tractor and the engine looks like something out of the 70s- no turbo, mechanical injection, etc..