Hubs (expensive vs cheap) place of origin?

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CDUNIGAN1981

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Mar 15, 2015
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I bought a pairs of hubs off ebay for c. $80 bucks.
Detroit Axles shipping from Michigan

I get the hubs and find out they are made in CHY-NAH not exactly a shock considering their price was a fraction of Moog or Timken hubs.
Here is the deal. I'm in 100% over buying Chinese but was wondering if Moog or Timkens are USA made or not. Anyone know for sure?

Also, Moog or Timken hubs are going to be about $200 more.
Are hubs something that is worth a gamble to save $200 bucks?

Opinions?

They are for blazer spindles.

Thanks
CD
 

Ribbedroof

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Even if they are Chinese-made, doesn't mean they are the same as the no-name parts.

The Chinese will make whatever a vendor wants, and assuming the buyer utilizes proper scrutiny/sampling, the big name parts will be much better than the "white box" stuff. This can and has been done.

I think many people would be amazed at how many parts of new "domestic" cars are made in China.

I'm not a cheerleader for China, I'm a realist. If you can't compete in the marketplace because you won't go to cheap labor sources, when most people are price-driven, you aren't going to last long.

Sure, lots of us would prefer US (North American) made parts, but the average consumer with a broken 7 year old car doesn't care where the part was made, they just want it fixed, cheaply.
 
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fleming442

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And, that's the sad truth. Even if you spend the bucks on a name brand, you don't know what you'll get.
Chalk it up as a bonus if it's not offshore. I just dropped $170 on a pair of Carson trail shoes because they're made in Oregon. Apparently, I'm not the only one, either because they have a month backlog.
 
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WanaBa442

G-Body Guru
Aug 5, 2017
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It's everywhere.
Look up ring and pinion sets sometime.
Made in Korea, India, Italy, and of course China.
And all from name brand vendors too.
You sometimes have to dig for it thru the marketing hype about how great they are as a company.
Fortunately in your case, a wheel bearing is a little less intensive to change out if it goes to sh*t in a couple months.......
 

CDUNIGAN1981

Master Mechanic
Mar 15, 2015
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Appreciate the input...

As it relates to wheel hubs though....
Is this an area that saving money should be the last concern?
When I started reading about the blazer knuckle swaps, all the comments were about $300-$400 hub costs..... I just spend $80.
I have shopped and found Timken and Moog for c. $320. Would it be wise to spend an extra $240 considering this is a wheel hub that connects my car to the road?
 

Ribbedroof

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Maybe you can be the tester, for those who come after you?

USUALLY, problems with hubs will become audible before they put you in mortal peril.

As said above, not terribly hard to replace if they are sub-par, aside from the inconvenience.
 
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fleming442

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Ribbedroof

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Injectedcutty

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Nov 24, 2014
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I have the Detroit axle hubs on my blazer brakes as well. I actually thought the quality of them seem to be as good as the other names. Time will tell I guess, but the bearings spin nice and smooth and so far no noise issues have arised.
 
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melloelky

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quaility's a crap shoot these days,spend what your comfortable with and stick em' on the car..
 
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