Questions about after market front end parts such as tie rods, ball joints and idler arms

[KgsTurboRegal]

MOOG has gone way downhill now that they are a “global” source company. For American made ball joints, SPC (Specialty Products Company) are one of the few American companies Still in business, lower ball joints #94011
Upper ball joints #94006
Upper 1/2” taller #94017

 

[L05edSS]

Lately it seems like Moog has gone to over seas crap. I just had to replace 2 Moog problem solver ball joints on my daily driver Grand Am with under 10,000 miles on them. The original GM stuff lasted over 300,000 (car has 407,000 on it now)
So I have a bitter taste from that experience. I have one new, but old stock Moog Problem solver tie rod that is over 20 years old but it doesnt say where it was made anywhere on the part or on the box.
What are the preferences for replacement parts for the 78-88 A/G bodies? Am I better off sourcing older USA made items regardless of brand or is there something brand new that is better? I have seen people mention Pro Forged, but I do not see where they are manufactured.
I am just looking for some feed back. Thanks!

good post was gonna do a similar 1 at some point, what did you wind up with?

 

[gnvair]

good post was gonna do a similar 1 at some point, what did you wind up with?

Pro Forged ball joints and NOS 1980s vintage Made in USA Moog tie rods and idler arm. I collected more than I would need so I will be selling off the rest at some point.

 

[L05edSS]

doing some looking around i posed a ? on amazon about 14 pc detroit axle rebuild kit and got this as a answer

"there are grease fittings but the over all quality is just ok if i were to do the job over i would buy a better quality"​

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Another issue is that our cars are becoming ancient which reduces the incentive of replacement part suppliers to want to invest quality in increasingly outdated products. Even with modern cars, the OEMs will often source high grade parts solely to the assembly line and source lower quality parts to supply their replacement parts counter because they don't want you to be able to keep your car factory fresh.

 

[L05edSS]

CPP i contacted and got a reply about where made. was gonna do a separate post but decided to keep it here.
"Thank you for reaching out. This kit is put together here from parts that we source locally, but I am not sure where our supplier gets them.

We have not had any issues with QC with these products, but we do not have that kit on back order due to not having enough of one item to put that kit together."

this is the kit i asked about. https://www.opgi.com/chassis-suspension/suspension-components/front-end-kit1/l241431.html

there is a variation in price not sure which is correct.

https://www.classicperform.com/Catalog/Sec-6-G-Body-sec.pdf

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

I bought some Detroit Axle parts for my '04 Sierra but they're still in the box. I was in a jam at the time and my tie rods and such were just plain dangerous so I bought a kit, but then my transmission failed so it's been a moot point. I was aware that I may need to replace them again soon due to reviews such as the one posted above.

Moog has absolutely gone downhill and I don't trust them anymore, but some people seem to still have luck using their parts. I have Pro Forged tie rod adjusting sleeves waiting to go on my El Camino, and plan on using their tall BJs too.

 

[78Delta88]

Disheartening what I hear. I just red-lined the Mercury front, new tires, and new shocks for rear. Went with Rock Auto. Went with what had good reviews. Was going to go moog but shipping cost was nuts.

Early eighties when I started out, GM and Ford were junk. 12 month warranty and not much lasted that long. The ball joints in the Trans Am didn't last much past the first year. I remember the night driving back from Iowa and the sway bar links fell off just as getting to the interstate exit to home.

Started out as an alignment mechanic, went to the Moog school. Moog and NAPA we the go to sources.

Early '84 I did a project with Motorola combined with Xerox, Sony and Harvard Business school. It was all about Just In Time processing, quality improvement, Japanese Manufacture System and Quality program.

One of the things talked about was GMs poor quality. These discussion was termed Chevett or Cadillac quality. What GM was good at back then was establishing a technical specification or standard. Parts would be made in large quantities and the parts that met standard went to Cadillac (Fleetwood/DeVille) or Olds (98/88). Parts that didn't meet spec, were sent to the other lines, assembling lower cost vehicles. Parts that terribly failed were sent to re-work.

Sad to think that after all the expense of JIT, ISO9000 and QS9000, we are back to just substandard junk because it's a lower price.