I am in need of a few steering parts for my truck and have noticed when pricing/ search that some Moog part numbers and photos are the same as house brand ( ADV,AZ,PEP...) parts but at a much lower price. Anyone know if they are just re-boxed Moog parts?
Thanks, Paul
Do you mean are moog just rebranded parts house?
What i have found, brand name doesnt matter anymore. Be it moog, bosch, whatever, all made overseas. If you're really worried check the box/part many times the country is stamped on there. But be it turkey, america, china, whatever they are SUPPOSED to be all built to the same specifications. Use your own judgement there. But sadly this is the world we live in.
No, house brand parts w/ similar Moog part numbers are actually Federal-Mogul's "value" line (sold as Quick Steer, Mastertech, NAPA's black box, etc). Only the high-price in blue Moog boxes stuff is actually Moog. Same parent company does not mean similar quality at all.
I've seen brands that appear to have nothing to do with Federal-Mogul use their part numbers. Like Javelin said, if it's not in a moog box, it's not moog, moog seconds at best.
mevotech is my latest favorite in cheap/decent suspension parts.
There is a reason house brands are less. You get what you pay for.
How important is steering to you?
I am done with house brand parts. I have had too many of the cheap-o's fail on me. Sure, I pay more, but I wont have to swap 3 starters into my truck in one day in the parking lot of an autozone until I found a good one.
yeah...My choice between house brand and known brand operates on a sliding scale based on how critical a failure would be and how hard it is to replace the part. If it's easy to get to and won't kill me when it fails, house brand. If it's a PITA to change (water pump under a timing belt) or might kill me when it breaks (steering parts) then the price difference is easy to overcome.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote: I am done with house brand parts. I have had too many of the cheap-o's fail on me. Sure, I pay more, but I wont have to swap 3 starters into my truck in one day in the parking lot of an autozone until I found a good one.
Back when I was a young fellow I needed a rebuilt alternator of my old Chevy pickup. So I removed the old one and dutifully carried it up to Hi-Lo Auto Parts (later changed their name to OReilly in the 90's). When the counterman put the box up on the counter we opened it to remove the new alternator and put my old core into the box. As the counter guy was lifting the rebuilt alternator out of the box he lost his grip on it and it plunked down onto the counter. When it landed, blasting media fell out of the alternator and spread onto the counter. During the rebuild process, the whole step of thoroughly blowing the media out of the parts before assembly had apparently been omitted.
Now, I have never been the smartest knife in the drawer, but I formed my opinion right there, that those inexpensive parts store rebuilt electrical parts probably weren't of any decent quality. Since then it's never been my choice to go with the low price option at the parts counter (or RockAuto nowadays).
Now, back to undercar parts. Here are two pics I took awhile back when I rebuilt the underside of my Chevy truck. Factory GM idler arm compared to the Moog replacement. The Moog part is significantly beefed up to address the issue of GMT400 truck idler arm short life span.
Night and day difference. I've found this countless times on various undercar parts in the last 25 years. Moog tries to sell better stuff than the rest.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie:
Plus, the ability to lubricate it. Although, that does not mean it will happen after it leaves the shop. Then you get the phone call after quoting customer parts and labor. They called parts store/accessed web site and were quoted the store brand price.
belteshazzar wrote: mevotech is my latest favorite in cheap/decent suspension parts.
I'm a dealer tech, and hate mevotech parts. Always last half as long as OEM, and often have fitment issues. Things like the hole for a cotter pin on a ball joint placed so that the castellated nut could make several full turns before hitting the pin instead of the pin fitting through the gaps in the nut.
96-04 pathfinder 4wd front lower ball joints straight up don't fit. The stud on the ball joint is too long and fouls the outer CV joint.
You'll need to log in to post.
