Priced tie rod ends today at Oriellys for my 46 ford project and was shocked at the price(39.99 ea.) Speedway has them for 9.99 ea. Are speedways same quality? Anybody use them? Am planning on using them on split wishbones and general replacement parts.
Used them on a '31 Model A project and they are acceptable Before anybody jumps in and yells "Chinese crap", it appears that almost all tie rod ends are made off shore. With the demise of junk yards (we paid a buck a piece back when), one is stuck with off shore products even if you want to pay premium prices for domestic products.
Denis is absolutely correct,I used Speedways tie rod ends when I split the bones on my deuce pickup. HRP
I had some bad ones early on, when a 'Vintage Ford dealer' had them at discount prices in good American boxes. This was around 1980, they were in the $8 range... Used a pair on a customer's '40 Coupe, he came back a couple of months later, (summer months, made all the 'runs') complained of looseness and occasional 'shimmy'. I found the tie rod ends to be loose, (LOOSE!) and was alarmed...went to Alexander Auto parts and bought some of his new old stock Moog ends, about $15 each iirc., replaced them and set toe. Not satisfied with "premature wear", I cut one open with my die grinder...instead of a brass or bronze bushing, I found some slaggy grey colored metal, looked like a mixture of lead and zinc... It was beaten flat from shock of the steel ball, which mic'd irregular...even the 'steel' balls were 'ovalled' from Calif. road hammering! This was an extreme example, but a lesson nevertheless. As for where in the Orient the present ones are coming from and their quality, I can make an educated guess; but the ones I got early on were likely a 'primevil' lot, from a different source back then. Those early efforts promptly moved me to a 'Moog mood' ...and I didn't have the 'brass' to thank them.
Orielly's has 3 parts lists as do most brick and mortar auto parts stores, off the street, known customers and professional mechanics. Go back and ask for a getter deal. I prefer moog or federal mogul front end parts. Speedway sells whatever they can get cheap. Think about it.
Chinese crap is Chinese crap. Both places sell them. I guess Speedway sells more, so they can sell them cheaper. I question if even Moog makes them offshore also now.
Moog is under the Federal-Mogul umbrella and they are global. They manufacture here in the US as well as various countries around the world. It would stand to reason that they would sell parts manufactured here close to the plant and parts manufactured elsewhere, closest to the plant of origin. They do sell different grades of parts juts like Craftsman Tools does for instance and you are best off to ask your parts man if you are buying an American made product or not. Actually they no doubt have factories in Mexico so to be on the safe side maybe it is best to ask if you are buying US made parts as Mexico is part of the North America.
I've had pretty good look on Moog or TRW old stock chassis parts on Ebay by putting the part number in and searching though the listings. You have to hunt and read the shipping costs closely but on ot rigs I've saved a lot of money and got quality parts.
I recently purchased 4 tie rod ends from Speedway for my tie rod and drag link and they seem fine after about 500 miles - of course anything is better than the loose crap I had on there.
I used Speedway tie rod ends when I split my bones. As soon as I applied some torque to them, both nuts stripped. Cheap steel and the nuts are half as tall as quality pieces. I retapped the threads on the tie rod ends and went and bought some quality nuts from NAPA. All is good!
I have drive 70 000miles (+100 000km) using Pete&Jakes tierod ends. all are like brand new. There is coming out many quality stuff from China, if You have good factory, stuff is ok or,...... My dayjob is sell bearings to indusry and dealers here in Finland. We never buy cheap china stuff and many western brands have own factory there now a days (like FAG, SKF,..) Speedway steering u-joints are junk, but I sell only Borgesons and many hot rodders/street rodders here have first bought speedway stuff and changed for borgeson.
19 posts and nobody has yet mentioned the obvious. What sort of lubrication have you used on the ones that failed? Good quality grease inserted with a high pressure grease gun, wipe off the excess, and the ones I used are still going strong after years of use. Grease the zerks every fall before storage, or every time you come home from Bonneville.
Very few people who aren't at least close to Social Security are aware of the need to lube old style chassis parts frequently. That adds a problem to assessing quality here. There hasn't been anything much with a grease fitting under a new car for a looong time.
Bruce, I bought a brand new truck in '88 ( right here in KC) only new car I have ever owned, not bragging here just stating a fact. Anyway I put some miles on it and when I got home to my place in Mexico I decided it was time for an oil change and grease job. So up on the rack at the lube and wash shop and the guy says I can't grease it. I said "What?" and he says, "look no grease zerks." Everyplace that should have had a grease zerk had a screwed in plug. So I took a plug and it was off to the auto supply to by a hand full of zerks. I called 3 dealers aside from the one who I bought the truck from and they all said the same thing, they don't come with zerks anymore and if you want to grease it you ( the buyer) are responsible for installing them. The wifes '05 doesn't even have provisions for them. Ok back on track there is bad blood between Speedy Bill ( rest his soul) and my family so it is hard for me to remain objective on threads about Speedway. I have seen some questionable practices a time or two but everyone else has had the same opportunity as I have so I just try and keep them to myself unless someone asks me directly about them. Anyway just passing on a little info that I happened onto over the weekend from someone who does business with them. One of my buddies was saying that he has a friend that works for them and he gives him a hard time from time to time. Anyway he noticed one time when he bought a part to replace a part that he had worn out and it was not the same quality part as what was shown in the catalog, close but no cigar. So he called and questioned his friend about it who would not get involved for obvious reasons. But he did say that if you do not specify the part in the catalog that they will substitute a different part. he did say that he called them on the part in question and they didn't make any bones about swapping it out, even paid the reverse shipping. so you see something in the catalog I guess you have to specify that it is the part that you want.
funny...bought some - made in USA - front end parts this weekend - first one lacked the nut....no small deal I thought as I gathered one from my nut bin....then I opened the other for it's install...and woahla...it had the nut.....kinda funny.....
I've had Speedway tie rod ends on the front of my 27 for over 25 years (changed them a couple of times over that time just to freshen up the car) with no issues. Just redid my car and put new ones from Speedway back on. I also used their u joints and a new 9 inch posi center section. Nice pieces. Don
Part of the reason we don't have the industry that we used to have is quality control, or the lack there of. I bought some Moog ball joints once that didn't have the boot. I figured no biggy I would just buy boots for them and be on with life and found that no one stocked boots any more. So I returned them for one with boots. Not so easy when you are doing mail order. All companies make mistakes, most of those happen on Monday and Friday. LOL Some companies make the mistake of looking for a better deal. I once worked for a magazine that went out of business because the better deal was not nearly as good a deal as it appeared. It happens.
I recently but tie rod ends on a daily. The difference in pricing was 100% more for the "good ones". I asked to see both. Imagine my surprise to find that they were identical in every way, right down to part# and all. I guess I could have kept the box for the extra $$$... In all reality, you have to look at the stuff. Sure, mail order makes that difficult but it applies. As was said above, "Asian" doesn't have to mean junk, but it's now a fact of life that it's the majority of what we buy in service parts. Who to thank or bitch at? Can't tell ya...
Can,t blame or bitch to anyone,Its business!! With out going into the reasons for sake of a argument its all about Profit! We all look for a better deal to make our money go farther,same as businesses! I myself try to buy where my Countrymen can make a living and would expect other people in the world to do the same for their Countrymen. Pete
I think for the most part we try to buy made in USA although I would like to have a pair of real Lucas Flame Throwers so that makes me a sell out. And no I am not going to give any of you 200+ dollars for 15 dollar lights so please don't bother me with your gold. Where the problem lies is when we cheap out and while we all do it that is not a good business practice. I have a tendency to stay middle of the road on the things that I use, I have discovered that the highest priced materials as well as the lowest priced materials are seldom the best or the worse parts and middle of the road suits me just fine.
just think of how happy we are making those less fortunate people in other countrys! without our greed, they would not have a job!
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