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poorly made pattern parts yet again


Discovan300tdi

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just spent the best part of today trying to get my series 2a back on the road having fitted a copper brake pipe set and oe spec wheel cylinders, I was stuck with no fluid from the front wheel cylinders.

having already fitted a lwb front axle with the matching brakes i had an early 110 servo and master cylinder that was fitted , due to the motor standing i decided to replace the master cylinder , after going up to cannock on saturday whilst i was at work i brought a new one, after stating i wanted an oe spec one ,the chap on the counter came back with firstly a br*tpart one which i promptly refused, so he went off and came back with a lucas branded one

after disconnecting the pipes the rear port was working with every pump of the pedal, but the front larger port wasnt after decicng it was fubar i took the master cylinder apart and was shocked to see the words britpart on the rubbers , and more worringly the front piston inside was missing completely , and this was supposedly a oe spec part, so looks like a trip to my local main dealer for a genuine spec master cylinder tommorrow

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I have seen Landrover parts, pretty sure I have seen hydraulics, poorly cast from moulds taken from original parts. As such they have the original maker's name on them. Paul Wightman had a clutch master cylinder which would just not bleed. Upon investigation it turned out to be a big bubble in the casting in the cylinder.

Chris

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Sadly, this comes up time and again. What resellers are selling as 'OE' is often the lowest common denominator of patterned rubbish. I have three UJ's at home, all purchased as OE and only the one that came from a main dealer is any good. One of the others came in a Land Rover box (with a 'G' suffix to the part number) and the third is really nasty quality. The rubber seals have managed to disintegrate whilst inside a sealed bag, in a box protecting it from UV.

I have a feeling that 'OE' has no specific legal definition so any old tat can be sold as OE. Since OE parts command a higher price than patterned - there is a strong incentive to sell cheap patterned parts as 'OE'. I hope I'm wrong.

Si

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when i buy parts i always try to buy by brand ie GKN / hardy spicer / Timken etc and not just rely on someone telling me thats is an OE part

Even that's not reliable. Two of the three UJ's are made by GKN, the Genuine and the middle one. The complete rubbish one is unbranded. I think a lot of the big brands produce a number of different quality specifications. It may be that as far as GKN are concerned the two UJ's are different part numbers - but they are sold as the same Land Rover part.

Si

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Sadly, this comes up time and again. What resellers are selling as 'OE' is often the lowest common denominator of patterned rubbish. I have three UJ's at home, all purchased as OE and only the one that came from a main dealer is any good. One of the others came in a Land Rover box (with a 'G' suffix to the part number) and the third is really nasty quality. The rubber seals have managed to disintegrate whilst inside a sealed bag, in a box protecting it from UV.

I have a feeling that 'OE' has no specific legal definition so any old tat can be sold as OE. Since OE parts command a higher price than patterned - there is a strong incentive to sell cheap patterned parts as 'OE'. I hope I'm wrong.

Si

simon,my point is that regardless of being oe spec or genuine they must be fit for purpose,when a part is so obviously unfit for purpose then the manufacturer must be taken to task,hence why i would pass it on to trading standards.

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Even that's not reliable. Two of the three UJ's are made by GKN, the Genuine and the middle one. The complete rubbish one is unbranded. I think a lot of the big brands produce a number of different quality specifications. It may be that as far as GKN are concerned the two UJ's are different part numbers - but they are sold as the same Land Rover part.

Si

Bl**dy YIKES :huh:

That is wrorrying - but useful to know

Nige

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A particular size UJ may be used in the steering column on a tractor, a drive shaft for a boat propeller, propshaft on truck, prop on a L/R. All will have a different load rating, so yes, the they'll all be the same size but will have a different part no' from the original supplier.

The mail order companies are all competing on price, so even if you ask for genuine GKN you're going to get the lowest spec.

As for the OPs m/cyl' I think you may have blown any chance of a refund when you took it to bits.

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Mate of mine dissected two Bosch starters, one genuine, one supplied as OE. Yes both were Bosch but the genuine LR one had more seals and a few other differences. Just because it fits doesn't mean it's the same spec, I'm sure GKN would make a batch of UJ's out of dairy milk for you if you wanted to buy a truckload of them.

Still, one day someone will crash and die (or kill someone else) because of shoddy pattern parts and then the proper arguing will start :ph34r:

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Years ago when I was at uni, I had a tour in a shock absorber factory (I am pretty sure it was Monroe). They manufactured shock absorbers for car manufacturers, their biggest customer being Landrover, but also others. They also produced replacement parts on a different line. Apart from being blue rather than black, they looked completely different.

When the technical guy did his presentation I asked him the question: Since there is a big difference in price in the part coming from the dealer as opposed to from Monroe, why is the price difference so great, they come out of the same factory after all? He replied: the genuine parts have to pass several tests to make sure it is up to scratch wereas the replacement component doesn't have to pass any test at all. So in good english we make proper stuff for the manufacturer and we make junk for the rest.

So there you go, the story of buying OE rather than genuine was explained there.

Daan

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well after much arguing and the the treat of trading standards i now have my money back from the place in question

anyway this morning i went to my local main dealer and brought a geniune one that came in a TRW marked box for £15 less than the supposedley OE spec one and it works perfectly

and got to be a record for bleeding series brakes aswell from no brakes to working in an hour :rolleyes:

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less than the supposedley OE spec one

It's amazing how often this is the case! You just assume main dealer = expensive.

What I've found is that things that commonly need replacing are expensive and things that hardly ever die are cheap - the opposite of what you might expect!

Si

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It's amazing how often this is the case! You just assume main dealer = expensive.

What I've found is that things that commonly need replacing are expensive and things that hardly ever die are cheap - the opposite of what you might expect!

Si

I got some new intake pipework for my BMW the other day. I needed it quickly so i went to the dealer rather than faffing around with ebay/internet. I was shocked when one pipe cost £8 and the other £15. I was expecting a bill of £50+! When i told the guy they were cheap, i first kicked myself cos i should have asked for a discount anyway and then he told me that because BMW know there is a problem with the pipe perishing, they have put a low price on it - unexpected really!

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Been there done that when Paddocks sent the wrong oil seal for my dad's '86 RRC, only place open was main stealer so I was braced for the worst, but they had them on the shelf for about the same money as Paddocks wanted for non-gen. I've also bought quite a few bits for the freebie from the main stealer and they're usually pretty reasonable.

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