Replacement parts

[John Kissel]

Has anyone out there noticed that the quality of; re-built or new parts is just not like it used to be. These are name brand parts from quality dealers. Things like: wheel cylinders that are not machined properly, brake boosters that leak vacume, headers that yout can't get the mounting bolts in, alternators that are weak,and my favorite, a 4 corner idle carb that comes with a 2 corner idle throttle body.I try to buy the best things that I can, just getting tired of fixing new stuff. The carb has become the best one I have ever had thanks to a Quick Fuel throttle body. Thanks for reading, John Kissel K242

[Tim H]

I agree and have also noticed aftermarket tonneau covers, grille guards, tube steps, truck tool boxes etc are name brand yet lacking quality. Fitment often poor, workmanship appears unfinished at times etc ... The prices keep going up and often the quality going in the other direction. Many speed parts need modification just to fit properly, like oil pans, headers, even had spark plugs that were not grooved and should have been. A couple new lug nuts with no threads what so ever ... Oops!

[Bob Mulry]

In the Machine Shops they used to have a scrap barrel, that if a part was out of tolerance the machinist chucked it into the scrap barrel and made a new part that pass inspection before it left his machine.

Now they have eliminated the scrap barrel and will ship out anything. We noticed this starting to happen about 20 years ago and it has only gotten worse.

Everything from engine bearings to windshield wiper blades doesn’t fit.

Because in shipping out their scrap parts they might slide a couple through and have the end user pay the price...

QC inspection has been dead for a long time..

[pmrphil]

Q.C.? Seems it's getting to be a thing of the past. Just opened a set of rockers to find one of the pushrod cups has NO hole in it. Solid. And everybody thinks I'm nuts for double-checking everything.

[MikeMoller]

I know one of the big chains that bought another chain(the purchased chain had better parts) and I asked a regional manager how the merge was going. He stated it was going well, they were able to put their parts in the purchased chains boxes-more profit. I imagine customers will eventually figure it out.

[Carguy49]

Quality control, along with customer service is going away rapidly. It is hard to find a parts guy or gal that actually knows what you want. If it's not in the computer, they can't help you. I am, of course, referring to the local parts houses.

I totally agree that if you do buy parts, check them for fit. They may, or may not be the right ones.