Made in China

Made in China…three little words that make you cringe, and here are a couple of examples of why.

As mentioned earlier, most of the parts for my Kanter supplied front end kit were made in China, and they show it. Several parts were incomplete or missing, while others have obvious, visual defects.

First, the little things. About half the grease zerks furnished with the parts were the wrong size. Not a big expense to replace, but it gives a nice warm feeling to realize the factory that made the parts got even the simple things wrong, so what else did they screw up?

Well, for one thing they also gave only one seal for the idler arm that needs two, but again that’s not an expensive deal, though it is annoying. A bigger deal is the shape of the idler arm. As you can see, the angle of the two threaded ends is different when compared to the OEM part. Since my original is in good shape except for the bushing, I might use it, since I have no idea how the idler arm shape would affect front end geometry.

 

Next is the upper shaft. Again the picture shows the difference between the OEM and Chinese parts.

 

The holes in the Chrysler part are centered on the shaft, while the Asian copy is offset to the point that it certainly could affect the strength of the part, if not the function. I have no idea how much stress is placed on those parts in normal driving, but I’ll probably use the old part with new bushings. What a shame that parts nearly six decades old appear to be in better shape than the freshly made, expensive replacements from China.