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FYI - Dorman balancers are CHINESE!!!

BigBlue

BigBlue

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South Karelia, Finland
so a while ago I pulled out the harmonic balancer,
rubber had started cracking and small separation

Can't afford a fluidampr so go for a Dorman part (+crank pulley)

some say Dorman balancers are (like) OEM
some say Dorman balancers are good replacements
some say even master Heath sells Dorman balancers

but then again,
some warn against cheap chinese parts!!
some say they wouldn't sleep at night if they had a chinese balancer in their truck

newsflash, MY brand new Dorman harmonic balancer IS chinese
:mad2::wtf::mad2:
and yep, you guessed it, the new Dorman crank pulley is also chinese:cussing:

I don't know what I'm supposed to believe any more:willynilly:
Now I'm driving around with these things installed, I guess it makes me a
:dr:
 

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What else is new,dont get paranoid about it,most aftermarket parts are china made no matter what they tell ye,even OEM comes from the rice eaters 90 out of the 100.
 
Bah. I'm with Bison... if the quality control is present, and it likely is (Dorman has always had a good name), it should be fine. They'll warranty it if there's any problems.

It isn't like the chinese designed the part by copying one off a wreck... and it isn't a particularly hard part to build.

This is just good ol' offshore outsourcing at work, no different than most other American companies that need to be competitive. Auto parts workers want $40 an hour to build these things, chinese workers build 'em for $3 an hour.

It's either that or bring in illegal mexicans to build 'em in Michigan. :D

PS - the 'American companies' comment was just a wisecrack, given some of the other comments around here lately... we have the same issue up here. It's hard to be mad at the illegal workers when your own companies are the real problem. Of course, lettuce at $12 a head is a little hard to take... Hard to get everything you want, isn't it?
 
3500GMC said:
Sigh....

It's still :icon_bs:

Glad BigBlue is back on the road, nonetheless.
Click to expand...

No question, and I agree. Watch the balancer, BigBlue; then again, you should keep an eye on those anyway, no matter WHO made 'em. A dead balancer is bad news.
 
I have to agree with a comment Matuva made in another post. It's our own suppliers that are screwing us.They specify inferior parts so they can make more of a profit on them. The Cinese and any other country can make good parts if requested. As an example there was a building being built out on the Aluetian chain and a certain grade of structural bolt was specified. The supplier unbeknownst to the contractor had an overseas company make the bolts to an inferior standard and then put the proper(for the contract) marking on them. It wasn't discovered until the building was about 90 percent complete. The contractor had to replace all the bolts. The supplier should have been put in jail IMO.
 
Thanks guys, I know I should get over it.
at least the new balancer looked better than the old one:thumbsup:

I did another dumb thing and totally forgot that it would have
been the perfect time to change the front crank seal - until I had the
old balancer off and the seal staring back at me:oops:

so I'll have to go back in there another time in the future, at least it'll give a chance
to see how the new balancer is holding up...:icon_bs:

yes the 'Chinese HUMVEE' thread by Matuva has some related discussion about outsourced
parts and such I noticed now - it's good reading
 
Big Blue, i hope you never need to get a rebuild or new engine,chances are china is written all over.
Makes you shudder aint it:scared1:
 
I feel the need to give some information here. You all can form an opinion on this if you want based on this.

1) In general, I was told by a NAPA store owner that they have fewer defects when the company moves to China and sets up their own factory there than they do when the company stays in the USA and simply buys from the Chinese company already producing the part.

2) We recently purchased flywheels for a machine we're building and they were in the neighborhood of +$10,000 each and were produced domestically. We installed them with no rework. Shortly after that, we sourced the same component in China for around $4000 each and purchased them custom made to our spec. They had to be reworked (sent out to a machine shop in the states) in order to be used on our equipment because even though they were to be to our spec., they were less than adequate.

There are some parts I have no problem with if they're made in China. Truly, there are high quality items made in China, as well. There are others that I would not use. I just listed the above information because I didn't want to give another opinion without having some facts to back it.
 
I ran into an issue last week with foreign parts. My tie rod went, so i got all new innner and outer rods and adjusting couplers. THe tie rods were made in china, the adjusters were made in india. Well the adjusters were pieces of shit!! I threaded the rods into them but i couldnt get them to thread in much past and inch. So i went out that night and got another set of china adjusters and they wroked good with the tie rods i had. So i took the india crap back. Moral of the story is that india is the new china, little boys and girls are cheaper there. So now china is sending alot of our orders to india so they make more of a profit, thus we get boned with a cheaper shittier product. So i have a tiny bit less hatred for china parts, but what pissed me off is we are paying china people to do it and they arent even doing it!! Its india! I will NEVER buy a part made from india again!!
 
FWIW the Bearing assbyls for my 2000 came in two grades. Cheap Chinese made crap and good old Made in Japan Timken. Guess which I used.
 
Acesneights1 said:
IIRC the balancer I paid top dollar for form GM said made in China on it. Does that make you feel better ?
Click to expand...

thanks but actually not, it makes me more sad. it means even going to GM doesn't help.
unless there is a difference in quality in GM-chinese and others-chinese

really the question is about quality and not about country "XXX" - when mass production tries
to cut costs too far it'll go bad in any country. Aren't the (in)famous WAP glows made in USA??


bison said:
Big Blue, i hope you never need to get a rebuild or new engine,chances are china is written all over.
Makes you shudder aint it:scared1:
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:iagree:I hope I don't need a rebuilt engine anytime soon, at least not because of a
broken crank:eek:


JiFaire said:
This is Ishmael... Jim will get back to you as soon as he gets back from the can :D
Click to expand...

:rofl: now that's funny :haha: and the video
 
Where is china getting its steel from? I remember at one point we were buying Jap steel and they were buying ours.

I have a proud Mexican Alternator.... That's working strong btw.... Who would of thought.... I went to high school in San Diego so i've seen my share of overabundance illegal ALIENS...:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Yep, Good ol' Chevrolet. That there is an american truck... Only thing American in it anymore is me.

ALIENS!!!! I love it... I picture 3 heads, 5 arms....


That said, I think i'll get an American Flag tat on my shoulder before summers out... Better not be Chinese Ink...
 
Matt Bachand said:
Where is china getting its steel from? I remember at one point we were buying Jap steel and they were buying ours.
Click to expand...

China is steel - it's the largest steel maker in the world by a long ways, produces more than
a third of the world's steel. It's sucking out raw iron ore from Australia, Brazil and India at
a mind boggling rate. these countries are shipping their land away I tell ya.
but they make some $$ and especially does china 'cause we are buying the stuff:icon_bs:

and now our crankshafts are being balanced by a little pieces of Brazil. or Australia...):h

and I forgot to post pics of the new balancer installed
 

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