Made in the USA

[68RangoonRed250]

I find it hard to find made in the USA parts just by going by brand. Most "big" brands manufacturer parts in multiple countries. More so I am asking should one trust a brand or a made in the U.S.A. stamp/sticker?

I understand there is more to this like what brand, what part, etc. Just trying to open a discussion and hear other's thoughts.

[farmallmta]

Forget finding made in USA parts, generally speaking. The best you'll find is remanufactured locally. After an O'Reilly's starter nose broke after only 45 days and in the process breaking 2 teeth in the ring gear of the flywheel, I have alternators and starters of original FOMOCO manufacture rebuilt locally. Replaced an O'Reilly's oil pressure sending unit that was 3 weeks old today. Went to Pertronix (China) because the condensors and points (China) are no good anymore, having had a condenser come lose from the spot-welded fastening tang (weirdest trouble symptom ever). Brake shoes suck. Master cylinders suck, wheel cylinders, too. Water pumps are a 50% failure rate. A machinist buddy of mine (in business for 60 years!) recently had a numbers matching concours '62 Corvette 327 he'd meticulously rebuilt and run-in on the engine stand come back on him because the engine grenaded on the owner when the new thermostat failed and the engine overheated drastically at freeway speeds.

This is getting really bad, people. My mechanic buddies tell me parts for newer vehicles are just as bad, even from the dealers. Many mechanics no longer warranty parts or accept repair and replacement responsibility for parts failure.

Back in the '60's, 70's, 80's and '90's we wanted cheaper parts. We've got them now. Ain't it grand?

[71Fe2O3]

My vehicles, old (the F100s) and new (modern Subarus) contain parts from around the world. The trucks, mostly US (the remaining original parts) or a mix of US and China for the parts I have replaced. The Subarus, which were themselves built in the US, have parts from the US (a surprisingly high number) as well as Japan, China, and Korea, with bits and pieces from Germany and other European countries. When it is possible I get US-made parts for the trucks, and the best stuff for the cars is often from Japan. Parts for a recent timing belt and head gasket job came from the US and Japan, as kits in the same boxes, along with a few bits of Chinese origin.

My experiences have fortunately not been as bad as farmallmta-in fact I am hard pressed to find an example of a part that broke because it was poorly built (I shouldn't have said that, because it will probably happen now.) I have not heard of repair shops in my area, independent or dealer, refusing to warranty parts that they install.

I like the idea of using local rebuilders for alternators and starters. This works when you have spare parts to send out or when the vehicle is not in daily use-otherwise, overseas remanufactured parts from the local auto supply get you back on the road right away.

I see this a lot with parts for Stihl chainsaws. eBay and Amazon are full of Chinese knockoffs at substantially lower prices than the official parts, and the knockoffs often have poor reviews. Because, chainsaw parts are relatively inexpensive compared to car parts, and because I don't want my saw to crap out partway through a tree, I pay the extra for the official parts and have not had any issues. I fell for the lure of cheap when I needed a carburetor for a Honda lawn mower-the Honda unit was $60, the knockoff $15, and I didn't want to spend much on the mower. The cheap unit works, but not as well as the original once did.

Harbor Freight is another great example. Some reviewers claim that they like the low prices, set their expectations accordingly, and expect to either return or repair the products. Perhaps those are people who wouldn't buy US-made name-brand products anyway, but the presence of such inexpensive products puts pressure on lower-end tool brands to cheapen their products, which explains, at least in part, why once US-made brands such as Craftsman have moved to overseas manufacturers. Once people become accustomed to cheap stuff, it is a race to the bottom in terms of price and quality-think about how many consumer products we buy, expecting to throw them away within a few years and buy new ones.

Farmallmta made an excellent point, that we have gotten what we asked for. We (and the vehicle manufacturers) wanted inexpensive parts, and the suppliers, eager to meet the demand while maintaining their profit margins, responded by cheapening the parts by using lower quality materials and outsourcing to bring down labor costs. Though the end result is not quite what we wanted; we wanted inexpensive, we got cheap, it makes sense. As Pogo said, "we have met the enemy, and he is us."

[farmallmta]

Fred's been lucky, and I hope his luck holds with parts. On June 23, 2012 I had to change out a 28 day old water pump on the '65 Galaxie in the shade of an O'Reilly's along US-65 north of Springfield, MO... on my way to my father's funeral. That particular pump has held for 5 years whereas the previous one gave out in under a month. It's very hit and miss with parts. On the bright side, Gates rubber products made in the USA are still as reliable as ever. A real bright spot.

Here's the parts to be returned to O'Reilly's so far this week. I'll be filing a claim for the expense resulting from damage to the ring gear, although I haven't any great hopes the manufacturer will compensate me.

bad parts.jpg

[fuzzier1]

I just had a water pump go out on my wife's 2000 Dodge Intrepid. When you replace it they recommend replacing the timing belt since you are already there. I bought a water pump, timing belt kit from AC Delco thinking it would be best. I think the Gates belt in the kit was American made but the rest was Chinese.

While I was there I thought I would save some time down the road and replace the radiator since the original has 180,000 miles on it. Bought one from Orielleys. Man that was a mistake. The oil cooler lines that go into the radiator (thought it was the transmission lines but it is engine oil), the fittings are held in the radiators plastic tank by thin sheet metal 25mm or so nuts. I tightened everything up, put everything together and of course the bottom line leaked, BAD. Had to almost take the radiator completely back out to get to it, tightened the crap out of it before I could get it to stop. Put it all back together, wife drove it a day or so and it started leaking bad again.

I fought getting that POS back out of the car last Saturday almost all day long because of those stupid sheet metal nuts wouldn't hold the internal fitting from turning. Had to put a vice grip on the fitting to loosen the bottom oil line. Mean while as I fought this POS it screwed up the oil lines, so now I have to replace those also.

I guess I only have myself to blame because we (me) have wanted cheaper parts, and we have them now!

[Ohiotinkerer]

It's getting harder and harder to find good parts.......I replaced both tie rod ends on my 2001 Ranger Edge I had with TRW ones because I had always gotten good service out of them........only to get them and the box said made in Malaysia and both of them failed in less than 6 months - their quality has really gone downhill..... I now buy nothing but Moog suspension parts - not all made here but the quality is still there.......and I agree with having FoMoCo parts rebuilt - our local NAPA did my water pump on my 360 after I saw it had the Ford logo and part numbers on it and they will be rebuilding my starter this fall........

I also had a lot of luck scoring NOS parts on eBay - I needed a timing set (wonderful nylon gears wore out at 82,000) and found a Cloyes set for $15 and made in the USA - same with the Timken carrier bearing.....its out there - just gotta search a little......

[farmallmta]

I tightened everything up, put everything together and of course the bottom line leaked, BAD. Had to almost take the radiator completely back out to get to it, tightened the crap out of it before I could get it to stop. Put it all back together, wife drove it a day or so and it started leaking bad again.

I fought getting that POS back out of the car last Saturday almost all day long because of those stupid sheet metal nuts wouldn't hold the internal fitting from turning. Had to put a vice grip on the fitting to loosen the bottom oil line. Mean while as I fought this POS it screwed up the oil lines, so now I have to replace those also.

I guess I only have myself to blame because we (me) have wanted cheaper parts, and we have them now!

I share your pain! It's getting to where preventative maintenance is almost as hazardous as sticking with the old parts. At least the old parts were working, whereas if you replace them you're basically shooting dice, probably loaded ones at that. And not in your favor.