Pinion Seals, Free Trade Agreements and Global Marketplace! RANT!!!

I haven't vented for a long time, but I hit my limit over this latest search for my Mexican Fairmont's pinion seal.

First of all, the name brand seal/bearing companies don't list it in American or Canadian catalogs, but they do in Mexican catalogs. TIMKEN and FEDERAL MOGUL list it as part number 5778 in Mexico. The US/CDN Fairmonts have FORD differentials, whereas the Mexican Fairmonts have DANA 44 Differentials. The Ford Differential uses either the Timken or Federal Mogul part number 3604. Identical seals. The Ford seal is smaller, because the Differential carriers only have 6.75" or 7.5" ring gears, the DANA 44, which was originally made by Salisbury, with Spicer gears, has a 8.5" differential, used on many trucks, and sports cars, by GM, Mopar and Ford.

Well, I can buy the 3604 at RockAuto for as little as $5.70 US, or mine, for $5.95 US, or, if I go to this online shop, I can have the privilege of paying only $17.65 for the 3604, because he sells it for IFS axles (Vettes, etc.)

http://www.carpartkings.com/timken-front-axle-output-shaft-seal-3604.html

BUT!!!

That's only part of it!

In my Pinion Seal Detective Mode, one of the search links led to this site!
http://www.lulusoso.com/catalog/691/Automobiles-Motorcycles.html

which has an Other Parts category, under which are rubber seals and oil seals:

http://sell.lulusoso.com/selling-leads/167175/rubber-seal-truck-seal-hub-oil-seals-.html


My RANT is this. What benefit have we had with Free Trade agreements and G7/G8 and Gee! 20 agreements? WTF!!!

Oh, I know what! We got to watch our leaders on TV flying everywhere else but home, looking like prize fighters.

AND!!!
We listen to some Mexican radio shows for music, and news. The music is awesome. The News is outstandingly objective, particularly on one daily 2.5 hour business/economy show reviewing both Mexican and Global business events.

One day, last week, the show anchor, Pedro Feriz De Con, 30 years running this show. points out that Mexican automotive parts manufacturers who made parts for GM, MOPAR, FORD and moved their factories to China, are now moving back to Mexico. Their complaint wasn't taxes, regulations or even government meddling. It was poor workmanship. The employees couldn't grasp the concept of international quality standards, and they'd foobar the mass production systems!

So maybe, our vendors in North America can stop gouging for Asian-made, private labelled knock-offs, made in China, or sell the knock-offs at prices that reflect the real value in quality!!!

AND!!!!
England was the home of the Industrial Revolution in 1851, in the garment and textile industry. Henry Ford took it to the automotive industry, and others followed in North America. I get that some dirty industries moved to Asia to pollute their environment or use up their resources, but cheap labor is no longer a factor. You don't need a zillion people to operate a molding or stamping machine, working for their LEADER.

Free Trade was supposed to generate jobs, lower import duties, not being gouged, not losing jobs, not running great vehicles on poorly made components! :banghead3:

Nice to see that Mexican entrepreneurs have seen the light. Hope ours recover soon.

EDIT!

Any wonder the big auto makers have up to 13 million vehicles under recalls!!! You'd think that our governments would want to keep us safe!

 

Ross Perot was right when he said pass NAFTA and that giant sucking sound you hear will be all the jobs leaving the US. The left laughed at him. I agree wages are not the only reason that manufacturing jobs leave the US think OSHA & EPA, two job killing agencies. If you want to bring back manufacturing jobs to the US and do something green at the same time, then pass a 1 page piece of legislation that says everything and I mean everything sold in the US must be produced in a factory that meets US EPA & OSHA requirements. Jobs will come back so fast there will be a labor shortage.

 

:rant:It's not a station wagon. Son rebuilt the entire front suspension of his trailer special 1985 Chevy 1/2 ton truck. Took it in for an alignment today. He had replaced all wheel bearings and seals last October with Made in China parts from his favorite auto parts store.
Not sure how he missed it. He says the front did seem lose but he figured it was all the worn suspension. Wheel bearings worn out so they wouldn't do the alignment. He's replacing the wheel bearings with the only thing he could find from another famous auto parts store. This time got heavy duty...... What ever that means! Again made in China. Also new grease. Made in China.
He also had to use two grade 8 non serated bolts on his A-arm because GM discontinued those.
It's hard to buy MADE IN USA when it ain't anymore!

 

Normally I don't jump in on political 'discussions,' but as a Mugwump, this little bit of info is germane to the rant: When Ross Perot stated that Nafta would cause job loss in the U.S., he was referring to jobs going to Mexico. I remember this as he was interviewed many times during the NAFTA battle in Congress. And I remember how Chrysler, Ford and GM were specifically calling for NAFTA passage as all of them were constructing new plants down in Mexico (I saw the video of a GM plant under construction at the time). I'm actually shocked that the Mexican companies went to China for production, as Mexican pay rates are low enough that importation should have been more expensive.

 

Big business is always on the prowl for the latest LCC (low cost country). Now India and the Philippines are seeing upticks in manufacturing as stuff is moved out of Mexico and China. Remember not too long ago when it seemed almost everything was made in Taiwan?

 

Grease made in China?!?! That's awful.

When I was a kid/teen. Our government stayed out of free enterprise, and business was good. Jobs all over the place, good wages, low inflation, great returns on savings bonds and no fees on savings accounts, either. Free trade comes in, and now our governments DEPEND on inflation to purport that stock market earnings are stable and the economy is healthy. So why are there so many homeless folks? Why is government corruption way up, and why does are own government appoint people with criminal backgrounds in high positions?

Maybe Pirates of the Caribbean was really the working title for Pirates of the Canadian?!?!?!:banghead3:

 

What would they make wheel bearing grease out of? :confused:
Do we really want to know? Check on that Normie in your spare time!

 

Let me see... Oil from our Canadian Tarsands (They bought one of our big producers), or from Nigeria, Sudan, Burma. All the places we ignore to keep China from getting upset. Can't have that now can we?

 

You all make some good points and I agree on all items. The few pennies saved on an item by moving manufacturing around the globe away from the tried and true factory teams is the fodder executives use with their management and boards to justify their existence and their 6 and sometime 7 figure annual bonuses!

Little regard is given any more to corporate citizenship and doing the right thing. Cheepskates Gaskets, Inc moves its factory out of North America to timbuktu and not only does 500 direct jobs dry up, but many associated support jobs do too............and we ALL bear the cost including Cheepskates, Inc. But that part isn't in the exec VP's powerpoint presentation to the board on why it makes sense to relocate production, is it? :confused: and

I looks and looks all through stores and online sources for North American made door bell buttons and things like engine sensors and textiles and where I use to be able to find them and buy them even if they were slightly more expensive......NO More!

My management professors at Ga Tech 35 yrs ago warned us that things were "going to Hell in a hand basket", guess they were right!

(I just ordered a rear hub/bearing assembly for my sister's Toyota Corolla from Amazon, a Beck Arnley branded piece, not the cheapest one........but I bet a dollar to a doughnut it will say "Hecho in China" on the box when it arrives. We'll see how long that piece lasts in service! At least they aren't hard to swap out on the vehicle.)

 

Mike, our snake-eyed Prime Minister went to India on a trade mission last year, about the time that a woman was gang-raped. What was the result of that Photo-Op? We were told that the presumptuous SOB had his bullet-proof Escalade flown over for a mere $1,000,000, for the 3 days conference!

This Global Marketplace concept is such a political crock, and our taxes just keep on rising, while they lower corporate tax rates, AND, in our case, give our oil patch more research grants and subsidies than all our welfare recipients get in the whole country!

And India rejected his trade proposals.

 

Just got worse. I need a Motorcraft Fan Clutch for mine, and I found some using the Ford Factory numbers:

E0MY8A616A

or

Came out in 1978 (D=the 1970s models, 8=production year)

D8HZ8A616P

So I searched a bit more, and here's a Chinese plant flogging their fan clutches with OEM numbers! WTF! So much for Genuine Ford Parts!

http://www.chinajuheng.com/

Scroll down these lists:
http://www.csmartauto.en.ecplaza.net/fan-clutch--192233-1170585.html

http://www.ibuonline.com/productdetail/Fan-Clutch/4cb414e08906a88337902a02

And there's a whole bunch more.

And here's a US parts vendor selling them, out of stock because the boat takes 2 months to come in.

http://www.am-autoparts.com/Ford/Fairmont/RadiatorFanClutch/AM-30643360/545164.html

In the day, these were Motorcraft parts, which now says are out of production. The smoke screens are getting thicker. Mine is a Motorcraft unit YB229, but it scraped off some of the fins, in the accident. If I could balance it, I'd reuse it. Not bad for 35 year old part.

With Headers heating up to 1300 F (with ceramic coating down to 800F), and AC, I need the best quality I can find. Motorcraft's fan clutch vanes swirl into the core, they aren't straight to the circumference. The knock-offs are straight.

No wonder there's so many recalls.

The guys at FourEyedPride (Fox bodied Fords and Mercuries) only recommend MotorCraft or ACDelco, because the others can't take the heat, and that includes cars with no AC or Headers.

http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php?101724-Fan-clutch-that-works&highlight=YB295

I'll buy a Motorcraft unit from an NOS vendor. In 35 years, I may not be driving it, but it'll still work.

 

I'd be hitting up the junkyards for that part Norman.

 

Then he'd just be getting another USED fan clutch. Best bet is keep looking for NOS.
The sad part is those knock off parts usually do not really match and fail soon, just like those straight finned clutch fan clutches.

The best bet is to scrap the Fairmont and buy a new $50,000 piece of look alike crap.

 

I'll do that too, but I want a new one as well. We plan on driving down to Mexico next year to see some friends, and maybe get another Fairmont wagon. She did fine, hauling the trailer up from there in 1999. 3,500 lbs in the trailer, plus the wagon and roof rack loaded. Lucky its mostly flat land.

Not a chance, CAT.

There's nothing exciting about today's cars. Anything they add on, is usually an aftermarket toy within 2 years, and they don't add to the driving fun. This wagon is perfect for us. With the stick shift, now, the wife will drive it too!