The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Where to find Quality New AD parts ?

Dad and I are getting serious about finishing this frame off on the 53' 3100 5 Window, I need to find a good place online to order GOOD Quality parts for this AD. We wasted alot of money in the past ordering cheap worthless CHINA JUNK such as door handles etc... and we do not want to waste any more time and money on junk.

Isn't this the best part of any forum? Honest NON- salesdriven advice? From other enthusiasts that are going through the same thing you are and are NOT trying to just make a buck off you and sell you junk? That is my favorite thing about forums! TIA, Zach

Unfortunately most of the things you're most likely to need will all be made in one factory in China and sold by all the major aftermarket players.

In the interest of starting a list of USA made things, here goes:
MAR-K (Shop here first... the best you can buy)
STEELE for rubber parts and weatherstripping

Anyone have something to add?

I second mar-k!! I just wished they made more stuff for the 1 ton!

My take is the repros in most cases cannot touch the oiginals for
quality. Companies like Mar-K and Steele of course are rare exceptions. I would suggest looking for good originals where possible, they carry part numbers, they fit, and with a little elbow grease most of them can be made to look as good as new.

Like the other guys said, Mar-K and Steele are good, but they don't have a lot for the AD trucks. If you do a complete rebuild, be very careful with everything you take off. Label everything- get a plastic case/organizer for nuts and bolts and label them. A small part that looks very worn out, like a door latch is tempting to throw out, but don't! You'd be surprised at the small parts you can re-use, repair and rebuild, because it is still a better way to go than using chinese parts.

I agree 120%!

For the most the quality of the used parts coming from the desert states are much better than most of the reproduction parts. When I fist started working on my truck I was buying all this shiny new stuff until I discovered that the old stuff costs less and fits better.

It may not look as pretty but that's why God created sandblasters.

As much as I hate ebay it's a good source for original parts. On occasion NOS parts show up. I usually check twice a week for parts.

Thanks guys, I need to order door hinge rebuild kits asap so I can hang the doors properly I will check that Mar-K site now.

It is so hit and miss with this aftermarket stuff, when we got patch pannels for the cowl and cab corners from chevyduty they fit like a glove, but alot of the other stuff we ordered from chevyduty was chinese junk, like the interior door handles

What about "Chevs of the 40s" I bought a interior kick pannel from them 4 years ago and it was way off. It had this crapy light gray primer that came off with almost no effort and I spent many hours trying to make a round peg fit in a square hole.
But I met a guy at a show that had a AD that he had restored and he said he loved the quality of chevsofthe40s

Hit-and Miss just about sums it up so expect to have to do some surgery on body panels. But don't be too critical and just think how much fun you'd have fabricating these things from sheetmetal.

You may be interested to know that the repop AD door hinges are one of the bright spots as far as quality and fit are concerned. A bit pricey but believe it or not, they fit perfectly.

i have purchase more than $20,000 from most of the major suppliers and have had only one disappointment and that was the door latches. they replaced them but the problem took some welding to strengthen them so they didn't fall apart. ron

$20,000 and only 1 dissapointment? I've ordered that much too, and in every ORDER there's at least 1 dissapointment.

I know that some of Jim carters sheet metal is made here in the USA . I would suggest calling and ask questions.Maybe Mike Taylor will chime in and let us know what products are USA built.I'm sure some of the reproduced USA products have some flaws.But it does make you feel better knowing it came from the USA .

Bowtietim , nice truck 51 , Is that mariner blue? That is the color of My project truck a 52 3100 ,Pete

I've bought all my stuff from Jim Carter also and have been more than happy every time. And I'm pretty sure all his stuff is made here in the USA His number is 1-800-862-1913 or oldchevytrucks.com Mike Tayler is very helpful.

pete52,thanks for the compliment and no it isn't mariner blue.I would tell you what color it is,but I'd probably get banned from the Stovebolt. HA HA LOL !!

To keep on subject,i believe the USA sheet metal parts that Jim sells has gray primer on them.Could be the localy made parts are a different color of primer,i can't remember what i was told.
Call them and ask questions

I'm right there with oldcarandtrucknut. I have ordered plenty of parts and can't say I'm overly thrilled with most of the vendors. The parts are junk but I need to use something until I find old parts or can afford to have my parts refabbed and/or rechromed. So, I'll throw the chinese junk on there for now.

I have based most of my recent purchases on customer service, and Jim Carter, LMC, and Obsolete Chevy win out every time on that. Obs Chev actually calls me to verify a part when it doesn't match my listed truck. That has saved me more than a few returns. On the flip side, ChevyDuty doesn't seem to care. If you mis-ordered or double-ordered, tough. If the part doesn't fit like it's supposed to, tough. The answer I got from them is "we've used those parts on our trucks and they fit fine." (click) So the only time I order from ChevyDuty is when NO ONE else has the parts.

Thanks all , RedGreen nice truck I see Yours is blue too what color is it ? And Bowtietim come on what color is it I like the color . Pete

The color of my truck was "stolen" from Down2Sea. Same painter did both trucks. Down2Sea matched this color to his original 1946 Export Blue. Though Export Blue was not offered in 1950, I really liked the color and decided to go with it on my truck.

I'm about to post some more pictures of my truck with the bed mostly installed. I strayed from the original on the bed also and stained it Brown Mahogany on pine boards.

Or... You could always get in touch with Jimbo59Chevy He's a fellow Bolter AND his prices are fair, If your wanting quality gotta go with originals

Last Friday I ordered most of my rubber for my 1957 3100 Chevy truck from Steel. They were very helpful. I just do not understand why they dont make ALL the rubber for my truck. They make the rubber peddles but not the floor starter rubber and not floor mats. It would be nice if they had "kits." I have found the rubber I am missing at Jim Carter and truckandcarparts.com. But I am unsure if their rubber is made in the USA. I will be getting all my bed parts from Mar-K.

UnklRod,

Floor starter rubber? Do you mean the starter bellows (Steele #597434) or the non-original starter pedal button?

Tim

Hello Tim,
Yes, the bellow for my 57. I have the Steele catalog in front of me now and they only stock upto 1955. and 1955 as well for the starter button. Unless you see something I don't. Just called LMC and the helpful young lady had no idea where their rubber parts are made. What do you think?

Sorry, UnklRod. Measure the height of your starter button from the floor. If it is less than 3", maybe you could use the earlier bellows?

Cool thanks!
Yes just kinda strange how Steele has all this cool stuff but falls short of the starter for the 56 thru 59 Chevy. Not sure what the difference is.
Plus the catalog was not very clear on some parts. Even the lady at Steele hard time trying to figure out what I needed. They should ship out my stuff Monday. I will let everyone know how it goes! Thank you again for the help!