Driveline Slop

[04_Sport_LS]

Quote Nextdon:

"In this case I chose to go with the cheap chinese parts, as the OEM's are known to be sloppy on the inners it seems, and the 'qualty' rebuilds say they use OE parts.. wanted to avoid that. Will be interesting to see the results. "

So instead of buying rebuilds that followed OEM specs,,, you bought, (supposedly), sub-par Chinese parts that use questionable metal composition,,, hoping that they would do better than something designed to original specs??? Good luck with that!!!!!!!!! But then again... you said that you were looking to sell the vehicle. Buyer beware in Oregon!!!!

Beck/Arnley isn't bad. They are a European company that subs out parts to Brazil, Turkey... or other third world countries,(supposedly other than China). I actually was able to go through the Beck/Arnley catalog... and have some bushings here that will fit front upper and rear upper control arm on the LS. Thing is... (as previuosly mentioned),,, you most likely won't be able to locate the ball joint. Pressing aluminum is a tricky business... and the OEM is slow to release that knowhow or specs due to liability.

 

[04_Sport_LS]

I've said it before... ,,, ... and I'll say it again. When you buy OEM parts from the dealer,,, (if you ask)... you will find out that the original part number has been changed/superceeded. Does the OEM manufacturer do this on a whim??? Hell no!!! This results from a design change... that is an improvement over the original part. Many times the aftermarket companies don't get the blueprints for the design change,,, due to copyrights, (which can take 20 years or more to expire).

Soo... when an aftermarket company offers parts to OEM specs, (or rebuilt to OEM specs), you ar getting the original design,,, with all of its original quirks. But what about those "other" aftermarket companies that outsource their materials to a country that uses "sub-par" materials??? They may brag that their design is better than OEM... but the materials used most likely aren't. So a person ends up replacing a part that had a minor design flaw... with something that is "sub-standard".

The moral of the story is that if a person can't find OEM parts... then find out who the supplier for the OEM parts was,,, and hope and trust that the supplier for the OEM parts has upgraded their parts to be BETTER than the original OEM parts!!!!!