The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk reproduction parts

My grandpa has a 64 custom cab longbed c-10...he bought those reproduction moldings trims cause his old ones were missing some pieces and they were all dinged up pretty bad..anyways i just wanted to share that those reproduction parts never fit right. His are so loose. Even when i bought the reproduction interior door hands and window cranks they suck..they keep on gettin loose.Reproduction parts suck..Thanks for letting me vent out my frustrations here

I have been diappointed in nearly every repoduction part I have bought. Brian

Let me guess,,you bought your parts from Truck Shop in Orange? Along with lousy parts their salespeople suck too.
I used to buy from Filling Station in Sacramento,but they moved to Oregon. Thats when i started buying from Truck Shop..............I see calls to Oregon in my future...........
Marty

Yes sir i sure do buy from that shop...must i say anymore? haha

Most of the stuff I get are O.K. but I bought a door hinge for my 58 & it wasn,t even close to fitting.

Cab mount kit. Dished washers in the front. Hole so big the supplied bolt goes right thru. U-joint trunnion bolt kit with the flat metal locking tabs. Bolts? Well let's say Bob Adler was kind enough to send me a couple of good used ones. Metal locking tabs were rusty and the holes were too big for the bolts. The latter came from Oregon.
The best thing we can do is return these inferior parts and tell the companies why. Its up to them to contact their suppliers with our complaints.

But then we end up paying shipping both ways for their crappy merchandise. Gotta be a better way.............

Just got patch panels in from Chevy Duty, they look good, I'll report on how they match up when I bring in the cab next month.

Bambino,,,you have to put "loctite" on the screwthreads that hold the door and window handles on. I've been the same route,they keep loosening up. Top quality,"just like original" parts,,yeah right!!!!! (the chrome aint worth a crap either) Marty

yup, thats about right.

Cliff59

hey guys oldchevy guy62 hear try going to classicpart.com parts from 1947 thru 1987 chevy trucks only, good prices

You might think original parts cost too much and are more than reproduction parts but there's a reason...original parts fit, are made better and last longer. Pay a premium and get original unless there is no other option. With a lot of original parts you will have to restore them but so what, isn't that what your doing to your truck anyway? If you send out to rechrome you get what you pay for. With the reproduction chrome parts you get crap right off the bat. Raproduction parts may look the same but they will be lighter metal, poorer quality metal and just plain suck. Buy NOS or good used American parts and you will never be disapointed.

What about parts from Brothers, any feedback on them?

And if its not the parts that suck...it seems to be the service...I ordered from Jim Carter's on Dec. 9. They shipped half of my stuff to me, and no word on the other half. I have called 3 times now, and they keep telling me every time that "your parts just came in this week, yesterday I think, and they will ship later this week." Thats been 3 straight weeks. Possibly my last order from Jim Carter???

I got the same thing when ordering a lot of parts at one time, they will be in next week, they did all come though.

Reproduction parts? Crap. The repop grill is terrible. the holes dont line up and it is made cheaply. Its all I had, so I used it.

The rubber gaskets had to be modifyed and on and on.

but hey, what are you gonna do?

you could do the same thing the factory did with these ol consumer goods, over - have a big pile of every part and find the ones from the pile that fit on your particular truck!

I think you guys are mostly pouting about getting a different flavor candy then you expected note that any repro part is patterned on one NOS part or the factory specs, and these trucks didn't have all that great fit and finish when new

with Carter, I'd prefer they ship all at once, so I tell them that, but they don't always do it - with others I've had BO's too, and some of them refund the money so I have to make another order ... which is better? remember when you make a parts order around Christmas, LOTS of others are doing the same, gotta expect there'll be some outta stock items, and if the BO's get to ya eventually, what's the problem - if you're set on getting every piece now, all in the same box, call ahead and ask about availability, if they don't have it on the shelf try elsewhere - if you're unfamiliar with a supplier, log in here and ask

I've had acceptable to great service from every supplier I've bought from, and haven't had any complaints with any part I've bought for the deco and TF series trucks - maybe there's more low quality stuff around for the AD and 60-72 "modern trucks", but for all those I've owned I got parts from the local NAPA

Bill

Back order items are one thing, but with each phone call wondering where my stuff is, I get the same response, "oh those just came in on the truck this morning. They will ship this week." Well, after hearing that 3 consecutive weeks, you kinda get the feeling you are being lied to, especially when upon ordering it, I was told it was all in stock and would ship within 48 hours. I dont have a problem waiting for my stuff, and I am sure they will eventually get it to me, I just hate being lied to.

By the way....someone with a lot of reproduction part ordering experience, Who really does carry the best quality stuff?

I am very fortunate. The shop I work out of is close to Classic parts & I live close to LMC. I can go to Carters but I only use them for 46 on back parts. It seems to me Classic parts has the best quality. Most of it is all the same though.

What things i have got from Chevy duty are what ever it's called now have been good & on time ..and for the most part a better price .

Does anybody do much business with LMC? I get their catalogs and have ordered a few small items but would like some input before spending a lot of money with them.

Thanks

I would care to wager that there is not a multitude of separate parts manufacturers that each vendor is using to buy parts. I would assume that the vast majority of repro parts are being made in the same factory somewhere in asia and ordering them from different vendors will not get you diferent parts. Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt it.

Tripleeeng, I have ordered from American Classic, LMC, H&H, and Golden State. I got NOS rockers from H&H - great parts, great service. American Classic supplied my rear floor pans - fit perfectly. I had ordered rear floor pans from LMC (they send parts for 60-72); they were crap. I used the front floor pans from LMC - didn't fit, and warped like crazy from a tack weld. Golden State put some parts on back order, but shipped them within a week.

I am hating all these horror stories about LMC, as I have all the cowl patch panels in the garage to weld into my cab this spring. I am hoping that for some reason that the quality of the patch panels is better than your floor pan experience Paul.

I have ordered from LMC,Filling Station, ChevyDuty,The Truck Shop and several others. I think it is what you order and who takes your order in many cases. Ordered Turn signial switch from The Truck Shop wrong part was shipped, called and they took care of the problem. I got to keep the wrong part plus they overnight shipped the correct one. I shop for fit, quality, and price. Vast diffrences. If I could by all NOS parts I would but that is just not possible. I buy repo's insted of used to save time with my restoration I don't want to buy a part and have to spend more time restoring it before I can continue. If you have questions about vendors ask here the opinions will be mixed and many then you decide for your self. Just my .02

50chevyScott, please, send personal email if you have to, but I want to know about your cowl panels experience. I gave up and will do something else if I have to fabricate them myself or pay someone to do it. Not long ago I had a thread going about my communications with a well known supplier about the inner/outer panels. Their inner panel would not even match their own outer panel. I was communicating directly with company, offer them one as a pattern, to look at etc. Told me to buss off to begin with saying they been selling them for 15 years no problem. More contact with them and a few pages sent from the stovebolt and they started singing a different tune. Last I heard was the V.P. of manufacturing was going to look into it. I have not heard from them since. I sent the panel back and would have continued to keep everyone informed of what was TRUTHFULLY going on but then my post got locked for what was bordering on "Vendor Bashing". I call it the cold hard truth and one that could have righted a long stnding problem. Oh well, I got passed and moved on. I will do without before I spend a bunch of money on an item then have to beat and cut something into submission. I'll give some American person the money to make it, or what will work even if it takes longer to get a ride on the road.

Like i said before.....you have to be a machinist,carpenter,master mechanic,wizard, and magician to get some of this junk to work.
When you call with a legitimate problem, youre the only one thats EVER had a prob. with their parts.
Marty

I will keep you posted on the cowl panel progress. Right now they are just laying in the garage. Ive gotta get my subframe welded in first, then mount the cab and put the patches in. I am not in any of these posts intentionally bashing any vendors either, I am offering up what information I feel might be valuable and would like info from everyone else just the same. I can relate to your frustrations a little bit in that respect. I will keep you posted.
Thanks.

thanks on the info fellas. Its good to know I am not the only one that feels this way. I Felt like i was whining which i am :p

Hi Guys, I might be able to shed some light on things here, I have a shop here in England and I sell chevy truck parts for 1947-72 trucks, I have a dealership with a company called 'Counterpart' when you buy your truck parts look at the labels it will normally have been made by 'counterpart' they are a huge company and sell to everybody, they sell to brothers, classisc parts,lmc and many others, and the 'Truck shop' in orange is their retail company ie their shop front. 'counterpart' and'truckshop' are owned by the same person, so no matter who you buy from the bulk of their parts will be from 'counterpart' who are the wholesalers. I sell truck parts throughout the uk and into france germany spain belgium etc, and I spend with counterpart approx $100,000 dollars per year and approx $25,000 with 'truck shop'and I have to tell you that the level of service I get from 'truckshop' sucks! everytime i go into that place i spend at least $3000 dollars, don't you think they would be pleased to see me? hell no!! because I buy so much, the salesmen know they will have to work hard so they deliberatly avoid serving me if possible, so I now take a ticket from the counter, I have a re-sale card at the store and everytime I go there they question it's validity and on occasions it get's quite embarrasing. some of the smaller chrome parts ie door handles and tailighs are made by a company called 'united pacific' who are based in carson in C.A. again this company is huge and is a wholesale only company they supply mostly early ford stuff to hot rod companys, but have just started to supply truck parts.so to sum up it doesn't really matter who or where you buy your parts from it's all coming from one main supplier and there supplier is in the land of the rising sun!. hope this clears things up for you guys.

thanks for the information

Thanks for all the info. I m just getting started on a 1950 3100 that has been in my family since it was new. I am still in the research stage but getting ready to get to work.

12 years in restoring my 53 3100 NOS off E-Bay/salvage yards... all orgional, except AC 1954 SEARS origional, from several swapmeets.