FACTORY PARTS..... a bit of a rant....

[ScottinAZ]

Ok, this is going to be a bit preachy, and a bit of a rant... USE FACTORY PARTS folks.... I just got done replacing a bunch of cheap Chinesium parts on my boat. These parts have LESS THAN 15 HOURS run time on them. Lower shift cable especially. When old timers say that the Mercruiser part is the only way to go, THEY MEAN IT. The cheap one was a PITA from the get go. Could never get it adjusted "perfectly" always just "good enough" for both forward and reverse. That was up until the upper ferrule popped off the cable leaving me on the lake with no forward gear. cheaply made and poor QA cost me more hours in troubleshooting and dinking around with it than the difference in cost.

I just got done putting in a Quicksilver OEM cable. Adjustment was a breeze. Set it to the 6", and bingo, forward and reverse gears..... total time adjusting it was under 10 minutes. another problem that was "solved" was my helm control jamming when trying to shift into forward.... this now works smoothly the way it should have from the get go.

For the bellows.... lets just say that they start to disintegrate almost immediately. If the wrong one goes, you will have a VERY bad day.... Boats arent like cars, in that you can pull over and wait for a tow truck when the cheap part fails. On a boat, you can sink, and incur massive costs to recover or even be responsible for the cleanup of any spilled fluids. None of which is cheap or easy. Factoring against these costs, OEM is cheap insurance. (not that OEM cant fail, but the QC is usually higher)

 

[topgun3690]

IF the OEM is available, that's what I buy.....aftermarket as last resort.....

 

[ScottinAZ]

IF the OEM is available, that's what I buy.....aftermarket as last resort.....

I used to be "used boat, cheap parts" and "used car, used parts"..... As I grow older, I have realized that the cost savings isnt worth it long term. When things get interesting is when the OEM is discontinued. My preference then is used OEM. My truck is down right now for fuel pumps. OEM isnt available, and used are 30 years old.... I have replaced untold numbers of aftermarket pumps.... one of them cost me a $700 tow bill (the day I bought the boat and was towing it home ironically....) in that case, you are beholden to crap parts.... I am trying to decide whether to re-engineer the system with QUALITY aftermarket/performance parts, as even the "OEM quality" Carter branded pumps are crap (that is what left me on the side of the road....)

With a boat, some parts really dont matter. Gaskets for instance, who cares. cork gasket is cork gasket. Some other parts, like blowers and bilge pumps are ALL cheap crap..... (mostly). When you get into hard parts though, there truly is a difference in what you get. Some are marine specific parts, other hard parts are just "better" at doing the job they do.

 

[tpenfield]

I usually try to buy OEM for the exact reasons stated. Of course I feel defeated when the OEM part says “Made in China” on the package.

 

[ScottinAZ]

I usually try to buy OEM for the exact reasons stated. Of course I feel defeated when the OEM part says “Made in China” on the package.

well, we try to do the best we can..... China CAN make some good parts, if the QC is properly done. Now, when the part is made down the street from the OEM factory from the technical drawings on the back of a napkin, those are the ones that sell for pennies on the dollar to OEM, and cause the frustration.

Hell, my brand new OEM shift cable says "Assembled in USA from foreign and domestic parts"..... well, we all can read between those lines, yet it went in and works just as advertised. I cant say the same about the one it replaced......

 

[topgun3690]

I have an older GMC truck.....always try to get GM or Acdelco parts.....the last thermostat I bought was an Acdelco.....opened the box and the t-stat had Motorad stamped on it......and made in China.....

 

[Lou C]

Even on my old OMC Cobra I will search for and wait for OEM parts for certain things….
Bellows
Shift cable
Impeller
Exhaust I use Barr because they are an OEM supplier.
OEM shift cable on my boat was on it when I bought it (in 2002, 21 years ago) and is still good! How? Store boat with drive down
OEM bellows lasts me over 10 years! How? Same as above!
Impellers are a wear item but OEM always works as it should
Barr exhaust at least in my experience is very good
That’s my experience!

 

[ScottinAZ]

Even on my old OMC Cobra I will search for and wait for OEM parts for certain things….
Bellows
Shift cable
Impeller
Exhaust I use Barr because they are an OEM supplier.
OEM shift cable on my boat was on it when I bought it (in 2002, 21 years ago) and is still good! How? Store boat with drive down
OEM bellows lasts me over 10 years! How? Same as above!
Impellers are a wear item but OEM always works as it should
Barr exhaust at least in my experience is very good
That’s my experience!

I would agree with you on the exhaust. OEM is good, but a GOOD aftermarket supplier such as Barr can be better.

I dont have the option to store with the drive down. I dont have enough clearance between the drive and the ground for that (hell, I have dragged the leg twice this year when I forgot to bring it up....yeah I know, my bad). I will be doing a new impeller in the spring. OEM it will be, replacing a Chinesium one.

A lot of the parts I put on last year were cheap aftermarket parts. I didnt know if the engine or drive were good..... I now know they are, and am replacing them cheap stuff with OEM..... not just because I can, but becuase the cheap stuff has already failed, or is in the process of failing. So far this year, I have about 15 hours on the water..... not a long time by any stretch, and certainly not enough for quality parts to be going bad, but sure enough, the cheap parts are just that, cheap, and are starting to show what garbage they are. Sure you can use them in a pinch, and they may last you the season if good ones arent available, but dont think they will last 20 years like the OEM one did......

Here are a couple pics of the failed cable, and one of the new one. You can see where the cable jacket just pulled out of the ferrule. This wasnt due to a sticky inner or hard shifting lower, this was just a crap part. You could and can shift the lower with two fingers on the inner. The interrupt wasnt "overactive" cutting out the engine because of hard shifting (it works as advertised and cuts out momentarily during shifting out of gear). The new one is not only crimped "harder" but further up the barrel as well. Hopefully it lasts a good many years. pulling the drive off is a PITA, and getting it back on is even moreso......

 

[Lou C]

I r& r the drive EVERY YEAR. Salt water never sleeps! I use a drive jack & have done it so many times it doesn’t take me more that 15 min to get it off & 1/2 hr to put it back on. Been doing this since 2007. Shops here charge at least 300 for that.
That drive jack I figure saved me over $4000 in saved labor charges over 16 times I’ve done it!
U joints are original
Gimble last changed in 2005
Boat lives in salt water 6 months each year.

 

[ScottinAZ]

I r& r the drive EVERY YEAR. Salt water never sleeps! I use a drive jack & have done it so many times it doesn’t take me more that 15 min to get it off & 1/2 hr to put it back on. Been doing this since 2007. Shops here charge at least 300 for that.

yeah, I fought mine for about an hour. I need to break down and get a small cherry picker for the drive. Its an MC-1 so it has the eye on it for a lift..... trying to juggle the shaft into the gimbal, make sure the prop doesnt pop out of gear, ensure the damn water o-ring stays in place, and that I dont tear the gasket along with lifting it is a PITA...... once all the stars align, it goes right in, but getting them to align sucks. No way I would pay someone $300 to do it.... Im stubborn like that.

 

[Lou C]

You can see how many times this thing has been painted with anti fouling, it looks bad but works great. No real repairs in close to 20 years salt water.
The Cobra is a little different with the install, you R+R with it in Neutral, no need to keep prop from moving, slide a long thin screwdriver into the U joints, guide the D/S through the gimble, and when it is almost home, if it doesn't go right on, give the driveshaft a little turn and it slides right on. Before I figured this out about 10 years ago it used to fight me, not any more.
I think I paid like $175 for this drive jack like 10 years ago, I had a wooden cart that I made before that. It has saved a ton of money, aggravation and time not to say back injury. Lol.

 

[Lou C]

look up Stumpy's fab works
I'm sure it's a lot more now but well worth it, if you plan on owning I/O boats for a long time.

 

[ROY WILLIAMS]

I have an older GMC truck.....always try to get GM or Acdelco parts.....the last thermostat I bought was an Acdelco.....opened the box and the t-stat had Motorad stamped on it......and made in China.....

the GM FACTORY is the china 2007 of the china parts ... ac delco also the electronic components .. the gm vehicles 2007 and new is a corroded / damaged parts of the electronically ...GM FORUMS !
the GM trucks are $50k and higher !

 

[airshot]

I have an older GMC truck.....always try to get GM or Acdelco parts.....the last thermostat I bought was an Acdelco.....opened the box and the t-stat had Motorad stamped on it......and made in China.....

If anyone recalls, just a few years back the GM guy stated on public TV that GM was proud to partener with foreign manufacturers and GM was proud to be the leader with over 90% of GM parts made in foreign countries !! Have not owned or looked at a GM vehicle since...

 

[ScottinAZ]

look up Stumpy's fab works
I'm sure it's a lot more now but well worth it, if you plan on owning I/O boats for a long time.

yeah, I need one of them!!!!!! just under $300 now, but damn, for what a shop charges, it pays for itself in one go..... not to mention you cant drop the damn thing and chances of screwing up critical parts goes to about nil....

 

[ScottinAZ]

You can see how many times this thing has been painted with anti fouling, it looks bad but works great. No real repairs in close to 20 years salt water.
The Cobra is a little different with the install, you R+R with it in Neutral, no need to keep prop from moving, slide a long thin screwdriver into the U joints, guide the D/S through the gimble, and when it is almost home, if it doesn't go right on, give the driveshaft a little turn and it slides right on. Before I figured this out about 10 years ago it used to fight me, not any more.
I think I paid like $175 for this drive jack like 10 years ago, I had a wooden cart that I made before that. It has saved a ton of money, aggravation and time not to say back injury. Lol.

yours isnt much crustier looking than mine..... I need to repaint it at some point, 43 years of AZ sun hasnt been kind to the paint. No corrosion, as its freshwater, but with the rest of the hull painted, it looks terrible on the back.....

 

[Pmt133]

When I repowered in May, I pulled the original exhaust pipe out of the boat which still had the original 1984 flapper in perfect shape. It's not even cheaper to get the aftermarket parts unless you get the really really cheap parts... My point? It isn't worth not using OE parts...

As far as exhaust, I've always taken it to my machinist to make sure all the flanges are true. Only takes once.

All I am going to say about overseas parts is this... I've held head castings that were done by a very reputable company here, and head castings that were to be upheld to the same standards overseas. You'd cry at how horrible the domestic casting was. If I didn't tell you which is which, you probably wouldn't believe it. That all being said, for machine made parts, it don't matter what language the guy punching in the code speaks. IF and that's a big IF, proper QC is in place it all should be indistinguishable from each other. I buy the best available if OE isn't an option, period.

 

[ScottinAZ]

When I repowered in May, I pulled the original exhaust pipe out of the boat which still had the original 1984 flapper in perfect shape. It's not even cheaper to get the aftermarket parts unless you get the really really cheap parts... My point? It isn't worth not using OE parts...

As far as exhaust, I've always taken it to my machinist to make sure all the flanges are true. Only takes once.

All I am going to say about overseas parts is this... I've held head castings that were done by a very reputable company here, and head castings that were to be upheld to the same standards overseas. You'd cry at how horrible the domestic casting was. If I didn't tell you which is which, you probably wouldn't believe it. That all being said, for machine made parts, it don't matter what language the guy punching in the code speaks. IF and that's a big IF, proper QC is in place it all should be indistinguishable from each other. I buy the best available if OE isn't an option, period.

I have to agree it comes down to QC, regardless of the country of origin or the manufacturer. The thing is, some countries are known for their "dubious quality" knockoffs and this overshadows the actual quality parts that they can produce. As with most things, it comes down to money. Buy cheap, get cheap, and the issues that come with it. Buy "quality" and your chances of getting something good go up..... most of the time.....