Thanks guys,
That is pretty much what I figured. This isn't a complex hinge, however and I'd expect one to be a little closer to correct than this one is. I suppose you could heat/bend it. The twist is ok, but the offset isn't. And this makes me wonder if they make each hinge without template nor die or what. I've rebuilt the original hinges in the meantime and will use those.
But I didn't expect the treatment I got from the Truck Shop. The minute I mentioned the problem was with the hinge, the attitude became "you bought it, it is your problem and in case you somehow got confused, we don't care at all and we're going to use any excuse to waffle on this." The manager said if I could return it to its original powder coated look they would take it back. I told them "you don't want to sell this hinge again unless you just want to seriously irritate a customer." But I got the feeling they would sell it again without any hesitation. Definitely not an outfit I think anyone here needs to support with their purchases.
As for brake drums, that is interesting. I bought 4 new drums from J.C. Whitney back in their good old days. I haven't used them, but they seem fine. At any rate when Whitney was closing this stuff out, the price was right. About a year ago there was a discussion here about brake parts made in the USA and the difficulty in finding them. I mentioned I had bought 4 new brake cylinders through Rock Auto and when they arrived they were all made in the USA. I thought the master cylinder I got from them was not made in the USA, but while under the truck after that I noticed it was a USA product. The brake cylinders were sold under the AC Delco brand name and the master was sold under the Raybestos brand name.
After that post I did some research. What I learned was rather fuzzy. Part of it made me think a company in the USA had produced a great quantity of wheel cylinders and master cylinders (particularly those which were common to many vehicles) and the unsold inventory was being handled by a jobber or entrepreneur and sold by other companies under their own name brands. And then part of what I found made me think there is still a company in the USA making or machining master cylinders from blanks which may or may not be imported and wheel cylinders in the same manner. But definitely these parts are still around and they were or are made in the USA. My guess is this entire situation revolves around unwanted liability. I think if the parts were made here by some company who stopped making them and now somebody (and the "who" is a wild card) bought the inventory and has sold parts of it to others who will sell under their name and hold this person 100% harmless from a legal standpoint. I think if a small company is making them, they can't assume the cost of liability or the time involved in defense and so they're selling them to others who have deeper pockets. Cardone was another company selling master cylinders made in the USA, and there were one or two other brands. The master cylinder sold by Cardone and the one sold by Raybestos looks exactly the same on the Rock Auto site. In fact, I believe it is the same image on both of them and not long ago I bought a NOS master cylinder made in 1998 by a company now located in Africa which was at the time based in the USA and it is exactly the same product as the Cardone/Raybestos product. Exactly. But the message here is brake parts made in the USA are available if you just look for them. Otherwise, you're going to get a product made in Mexico, India, China or possibly Brazil, depending on the make of vehicle you own.
