suspension and steering parts brands...

[mtandrews]

hey guys, I just bought a bunch of front end parts for an old Fury III we are working on for a family member of one of our drivers. Anyway I understand basic metallurgy but of course you can't tell the tensile strength of something with the naked eye. I tend to order 70% of our stuff via www.RockAuto.com and I noticed the brands they tend to carry are Raybestos, Mevotech, AC, MOOG, and Auto Extra. Also I see that Raybestos tends to come in Professional and Service grade which I would assume the Pro is supposed to be better. I read on a 4X4 blog that MOOG ain't as bad *** as it used to be. Do any of you'ze guys know of a good or bad about any of the above brands? I have MOOG ball joints and all Mevotech steering on my Duster and all seems to be fine.

 

[2 Darts]

The brands you listed are good for the most part. However, many "good" brands outsource production overseas. It's done mainly to keep prices down for the consumer and profits up for the corporation. Most of the time, the differences are not noticeable.

There is one huge exception IMO/E. I've had problems with Chinese metallurgy and avoid castings and fasteners sourced in China. The problems stem mainly from porous metal.

 

[mtandrews]

the Mevotech parts I just got say they are made in Taiwan.

 

[Dartnut]

I had a bad experience with Spicer balljoints last year, 3 of the 4 were bad out of the box, they warrantied them all then i replaced 'em and had 2 fail. I got my money back and then bought Moog and they all passed.
I'll never buy Spicer suspension parts again.
I thought i was paying extra for better quality. Go figure.....
I changed the balljoints 3 times, a major PITA to say the least!
Maybe just a QC problem, but never again.... and no apology.
All were for a '74 Dart V8 bbp front end BTW.
Just my 2 cents.
Tom.