Last year I had to replace the inner/outer tie rods on both sides of my wife's car, and I already had to re-replace the drivers side, and I think something on the pass side is going out now. Yesterday I got the trans mount kit from CE and the tie rod ends for the wishbone didn't have threaded holes for the zerk fittings. I always went Moog, but this last batch has got me rethinking.
I think a lot of mfgs went to self threading zerk fittings, one operation saved times a billion parts is money in their pocket. Moog was always my preferred brand, I haven't bought oem style suspension parts for quite a few years but I recall hearing they aren't what they once were, many parts made offshore to satisfy the Walmart type buyers.
Always had good luck with them in the past. But, haven't purchased anything from them in quite some time though.
I live in Hawaii on the big island really bad road in the rual area. I fix cars to supplement my living . I will not use anything but moog , you are right they are not as good as 20 years ago nothing is.
The last time I bought a pair of hubs for my daughter's car one was made in Mexico the other Vietnam, same Moog box though.
The last Moog parts I bought were made overseas. It depends on what part. I bought control arm shafts from autozone and they were made in the US. If ya go to rocksuto they will list the parts country of origin.
When researching one of my NOS Moog tie rod ends I could see that the new units pictured on Rockauto with the same part number were clearly a different forging from what I had, and what other NOS sellers showed on the auxion site. Anthony, how do you find the country of origin on the Rockauto site? I only see it on the paperwork after I receive my parts.
It didn’t show up on my phone but in the past it showed it on my laptop I have a commercial account at autozone and I order from behind the counter and can find a country of origin also. (Most of the time) .
Have to give up one of my secrets but I have had good luck on old stock Moog or other top brand back in the day chassis parts by getting the Moog part number off Rock Auto and just seaching Moog____ on Ebay. no application. Some vendors have bought out warehouse loads of hard parts and just put the chassis parts on Ebay with brand, part number and brief description. Moog ---- tie rod end and nothing more. Those guys aren't trying to get rich off one item an usually have a friendly buy it now.
Couldn’t get rockauto bring up county of origin. They must have changed it. I did look up a ball joint on eBay. They will note it’s origin most of the time. Here is an example China is the country of origin for this eBay part. If I remember correctly, rockauto used flags to note country of origin.
I wondered if maybe Rockauto had to put country of origin information on my orders as I am in Canada, so some parts would come in duty free, others not. I bought a set of Anchor motor mounts because in the past they were excellent and appeared to be the OEM supplier. But this time, the ones I got were made in China and India (same engine), with the latter country's part much worse than the former. I guess I'll save the old mounts in case I decide to get them stripped and re-vulcanized (an expensive process used for rare parts).
These new Moog items now use push-in zerk fittings. ACE hardware has them if you can't get them elsewhere.
XRF Chassis out of Canada I've heard are top notch parts made in Canada. They use the Moog part numbers and have other cross reference brands. Also I've heard that the ProForged brand on Rockauto are made in China but are very good quality, better than Moog some say.
A lot of manufacturers went to drive type zerks. Drill the right size hole, put the zerk in the drive tool and hit it. No threads involved.
What MR48 Chev said....find the part # and search for some vintage NOS parts on the bay site....some folks know what it is and others just post the MOOG # with a price....you get lucky sometimes.
It is hit and miss. Have dealt with four different Moog castings for a single part number. Hecho'd units looked similar to an older US made piece but you can tell the casting was rougher or the forging was worn out. Not quite as pretty, unnecessarily beefy. Chinese made looked to be 80% of the material was used compared to OE. Which made it even skimpier looking compared to Mexico's. Taiwan piece looked OEM-ish. Japanese piece was a machined masterpiece. It was in it's own hermetically sealed looking baggy. Only the Hecho'd unit actually had 'Problem Solver' stamped on it. One of the things you have to look out for is if it is an actual Moog part and not are rebox or 'value line' component. IIRC parts that start with a 'K' are 'Moog' parts, 'RK' are not going to be 'Problem Solver'.
Yeah, I've come across those "drive-in" type zerk fittings, especially on industrial casters. Those ones didn't even have a check ball in them, it was just a through hole. I would be happier with threaded zerks, and pay the extra 3/5 of a cent for the part but that's not how the market works. Thanks for the tip about XRF Chassis parts, since I'm in Canada I guess I'll be mildly patriotic and keep an eye out for them.
I haven’t seen a set of threads in any suspension part in years! Just get it straight and turn it, it will cut its own threads. I though everybody knew that? Bones
2 things: 1) Country of origin should be printed on the box. 2) I talked to an old-school alignment guy and he said he heard the USA made ball joints and parts with a rubber boot will have the word "MOOG" on the boot. He also said the parts ain't what they used to be....
Sadly, I’ve seen some Moog stuff made in China lately as well. It really burns my ass to pay premium money for a brand name like Moog only to find out that it’s made overseas. That really makes me question if the Moog part is the same as the lower priced ones. It’s really incredible what corporate greed has done to things in this country. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I never heard of that until now. I just assumed with the issues that I've had with a lot of parts lately that it was a quality issue.
I had never heard of XRF Chassis until now and I am in Canada. When I need suspension parts I will be checking them out. I am always looking for ways to not pay, exchange, customs, and UPS charges. Thanks lemondana.
You can thank a prominent New York business man for buying and single handedly dismantling / destroying Federal Mogul. Overseas manufacturing shot way up he took over and many of the brands were sold off.
"I had never heard of XRF Chassis until now and I am in Canada. When I need suspension parts I will be checking them out. I am always looking for ways to not pay, exchange, customs, and UPS charges. Thanks lemondana." Of course the irony is that even parts made in Canada (gas tanks for example) tend to be cheaper in the US, it is usually cheaper for us Canajuns to buy them out of the US and have them shipped back here.
I used to buy Moog suspension parts. My DD is an ‘01 Dakota, a truck known for failing ball joints when new, especially in rust belt areas. There was a recall, factory replaced upper and lower ball joints, done just before I bought the truck. A couple years later, they were bad again. I replaced them with Moog greasable ball joints, figuring the slightly more expensive part and increased maintenance would be worth it. And, a couple years later, they were bad yet again. Ball joint set #4 are the “lifetime warranty” house brand NAPA greasable joints. They’re holding up much better than the previous three sets. And Moog is no longer a brand I’ll buy. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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