1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Won’t buy moog again after this.
Pulled truck into tire shop for alignment……one of the moog inner tire rod ends already going bad at about 2500 miles.
He took me in and I saw it. Lot of slack in it!! That’s crazy!!

 

My Mevotech OTRE made it one month. The Moog replacements made it 6 years. I’m back on OEM for stuff like this. Not worth saving a few bucks for poor performance and having to replace more often. You end up paying more, and never enjoying them.

 

I feel like a damn broken record on here, and I know a lot of newbies think I'm either a purist, elitist, or plumb crazy, but ... I'll say it again.

Aftermarket parts these are complete and utter fucking shit on quality. They are all outsourced, often from the same warehouses in China or India or other south/pan Asian countries, by multiple different brands, and the warehouse making them is doing it as cheaply as possible with the cheapest materials possible (including recycled rubbers and plastics), with little to no quality control or testing (b/c that that costs money, obviously, and they're making things on a shoestring), then being passed off to the consumer at only marginally lower prices sometimes. The lifespan, if you're lucky, is 1-5 years.

They know all damn well the quality is subpar, and there are defects in the parts. This is why they put a lifetime warranty on them. "Lifetime warranty" doesn't mean "good for the remainder of your life" anymore, it means "we will replace it for the lifetime of the part, but only if you maintain proof of purchase", and sometimes even requiring the original box (read the fine print). They know you will be OK if their part is defective, because you get a new part, which is great, right? You are their new quality assurance/quality control department, the one they didn't want to pay for. And the parts are made so cheaply that, if you pay half what the OEM part would cost, they're building it for 5% of what the OEM part cost to manufacture due to their skimpy manufacturing process, so they can afford to give you 20 free parts during its lifetime before they lose money on that part.

The whole system is fucked. I'd rather buy OEM. Buy once, cry once. OEM lasted 15-20 years, it's gonna last another 15-20 years. Will I bitch about the price being higher? Sure, I will. Do I trust the part implicitly, assuming I bought from a genuine source? Hell yes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU

 

I'm with you. If I get 15, I'm a happy camper. It's a V8 with a lift and oversized tires. I took any aerodynamics this truck had and threw them out the window.

Speaking of V8, I went on a work trip last weekend to Utah. I had to rent a car last minute because the one I had booked fell thru. I got a 2023 or 2024 mitsubishi mirage. Get this - 78 horsepower. I didn't even think that was a thing. It was so woefully underpowered it was almost frightening. It's a good reminder that a 240 hp V8 is way more than a lot of vehicles out there. It was the least power I think I've ever felt. Good reminder to count my displacement blessings...

It was my first time to Utah, and it was awesome. The Rockies are truly such an amazing treasure.