Universal Joints!!??

[nomad]

I have now sourced new universal joints for my drive shaft from three different places and none of them fit! All are made in China and all are easily a MM two wide. Whats gone wrong with this country!! Apparently the Chinese think these are close enough but I don't. Spicer is gone as is nearly all the rest of our manufacturing!

These last are from Bean and they are going back.

Kurt

[nomad]

Can anyone give me the full correct Spicer number for the U joints? Maybe some old stock somewhere.

Kurt.

[AHM]

Hi Kurt,

Hardy Spicer hasn't gone anywhere - Chester Road, Erdington, Birmingham By the Jaguar factory and up the road from Fort Dunlop... Where it has always been. Now known as GKN Driveline Birmingham.

Your local GKN stockist will Provide!

[john.p.clegg]

Unipart C395 B2
H/S K5
QH QL102

John

[gjz30075]

I took a mm off the top of two of the caps to make mine fit. That said, follow John's advice and order one that
will most likely fit.

[stevebroad]

I used Quinton Hazell joints - QL-15002

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quinton-Hazel ... 1261471064

[rgh0]

Never buy no name brand bearings - unfortunately many of the suppliers carry these as they are cheap and it enables them to advertise a competitive price on the internet - but they are cheap for a reason.

cheers
Rohan

[nomad]

Well, guys, the last set from Bean are GKN.......made in China and don't fit!!!! That along with the two no name ones before. Looks like I'll be grinding some off the caps but if this is how we are supposed to run industrialized nation's we are SCR*WED!

Kurt.

[RichardHawkins]

I agree with Rohan. From my industrial experience, cheap components that don't have a name you recognise are probably no good, and the cost of replacement dwarfs the saving.

According to Carroll Smiths book Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing, counterfeit components have even been found in the space program. People who make this rubbish are quite happy to copy a well known brand name on that rubbish.

Richard Hawkins

[AHM]

If they are from GKN it is unlikely that they would be made in China - And in that unlikely event they will be to OEM spec and made with known bearings.

GKN has a large manufacturing footprint in North America and Europe and a very small one in China.

[worzel]

Hi Kurt

I'm pretty sure I have some of these (the greaseable type)- old but never used. Let me know if definitely interested and I'll turf out the shed.

Regards


John

[Orsom Weels]

If they are from GKN it is unlikely that they would be made in China - And in that unlikely event they will be to OEM spec and made with known bearings.

GKN has a large manufacturing footprint in North America and Europe and a very small one in China.

Don't know about UJ's, but I have had 'genuine' GKN CV joints that were made in China. When I queried this, I was told that GKN no longer manufacture small volume stuff in house, but sub contracts out, often to Chinese companies.

[nomad]

Just returned from a pleasant hunting trip without internet.
Seriously, these GKN bearings were marked with the made in China sticker that is required by a 1920's law that the big multinational's haven't been able to get rid of yet. We can't have country of origin labeling on our food but it is still on manufactured goods. If you have spent any time in following what China has done over time and the current secret trade deals that are being done you will be alarmed!!
VOTE SANDERS!

Kurt.

[William2]

Not a dissimilar situation with Lucas, most of that is sadly Chinese manufactured.

[Chancer]

This is beginning to start attracting nationalistic and political comments.

There is nothing wrong with China as a manufacturing nation, in fact as a whole it probably puts the rest of the world to shame, there is nothing wrong with goods produced in China for companies based all over the world if they are a quality company and they enforce and control their own quality standards

Bigger industries notably car manufacturers have been doing this for d?cades and I would say that 99% of the Chinese made products that I own and use from these companies are of the highest quality, much better than in previous years and certainly cheaper than they have ever been, I own Tools now that I could only have dreamed of not so long ago because they are affordable.

There are exceptions, there are the counterfeit goods where of course the onus is on producing something that looks identical to the original and on the packaging and probably nothing on its quality.

There are also global buyers like the big supermarket chains that have no expertise in the quality and control of manufacture, they just want the cheapest price for something that will sell, they invent brand names so that their reputation is never tarnished.

And then there are the companies that after relocating production and producing identical if not better quality goods in China decide that they no longer need to keep the technical staff, the people who can judge if a product is made to the correct tol?rances and quality, they then become just another global seller searching for the cheapest price.

Then you have the companies that have resisted the above, that are proud of their reputation, if they have relocated part of their production it will not be to the cheapest but to who can produce the required quality at the most economic price, these companies are undervalued, they get taken over by other companies who close down the manufacturing plants get rid of the technical staff, buy the cheapest rubbish but sell it for a premium for many years trading on the good name an,d reputation of the original company.

I'm not sure where Lucas and GKN fit into the above, if they stopped producing U/J"s because the market wasnt big enough for them to enforce their quality on a Far Eastern manufacturer, and only a dreamer would expect them to still produce them in their factories you might get even worse U/J's, resellers would place orders in China or wherever and they would have no knowledge whatsoever of whether what they recieve is any good until the customers complain. Rotoflex couplings and the CV driveshafts are good examples of this, the quality was there when they were sold by Metalistik and GKN.

I really dont think that it is as simple as blaming Chinese manufacture, remember when Japanese motorcycles were called Jap Cr@p?

I dont think this is new, must be nearly 20 years ago that a pal was restoring Mg Midgets, the parts availability was excellent but he told me that it was always better to repair or recondition an original part than to buy a new (reproduction) one, in that time the economics have made repro parts even cheaper but I actually think that overall the quality of many from China especially those sold by people with a passion and a long term view has improved, I applaud people like Sue Miller who has the balls to say "you know what, we wont sell these any more if we cant guarantee the quality, our reputation is Worth more to us than profit.

I would also add that what is left in the UK of certain industries like gear manufacture, forging etc often has very little or no remaining technical expertise, the onus is only on sales.