kfede1

I recently received a shipment of parts from Vette Brake Products. I was told by them that they use TRW and MOOG ball joints, and that the ones that I bought are MOOG. THe part numbers do not appear to be MOOG part numbers. They have the following numbers on them "15711" and "2601089R" on one of the ball joints. The other set has similar numbers. These do not seem to me to be that well made, and I wanted to see if anyone recognizes these before they become a part of my car.

page62

That second number sounds like a GM number. What makes them "not so well made"?

bb69

From the Jan 2003 MOOG catalog, the upper ball joint for 63-82 Vettes is part number K6034, and the lower ball joint is K6035. This is what the catalog says, but that's not to say MOOG doesn't put more numbers on the joint.

Good luck.

kfede1

Well, the shafts have dings and nicks on them... The numbers on the uppers are stamped almost illegibly... They did say USA on them, which I take as a good sign for ball joints.. Getting information from VBP has been like I am asking for free parts. They have not been going out of their way here.. I think that what happened is that they did not want to answer my question, put me on hold for a whle, and came back with just any answer to get rid of me.

fauxrs

Go to your nearest NAPA parts place - I believe they carry MOOg - ask for a moog balljoint and then compare the two.

redvetracr

KFEDE,
Call Vette Brakes, ask for Paul Lesinski DO NOT TALK TO ANYONE ELSE!!!!! He will straighten everything out for you AND make sure to tell him you are a member of the Corvette forum!!! Are you familiar with the term "the buck stops here"?? Paul is the buck at VBP. ...redvetracr

69bblock3x2

Number 2601089 is the DANA/Spicer part number for a Corvette lower ball joint. This is also the manufacturer that NAPA uses for it's NAPA Chassis Parts.


John.

kfede1

Thanks redvetracr, I called VBP. I was told Paul was unavailable, but left a message on his voicemail, and explained my concerns. I will get back to this thread and post any response to close out this question. If 69bblock3x2 is tight about the part numbers and he seems to be, then these ball joints are in fact Spicer. I do not have a feel for how good these joints are. It concerns me that VBP has misrepresented their products.

kfede1

Paul did finally return my call, and confirm the parts are Dana.Spicer. He offerred turnover as a possible reason that various Sales People and Tech support "misrepresented" the parts. I guess I have lost respect for VBP as a vendor after all this, but I will probably still use them when I have to, since they are pretty much the only game in town.

page62

What's so bad about Dana Spicer? My father worked for a Dana company several years ago, and their stuff was always first rate. Has their quality gone downhill?

max125

I've used vette brake products quite a bit and when there was problem they were on it right now. I found their tech department to be very helpful and to go as far as to steer me away from items that were of questionable quality. They even air freighted a replacement caliper with no questions asked. You must have caught them on a bad day.

Paul L

It's pretty hard to get a better product than Spicer. They were used on the C3s from the factory.

page62

I have some ball joints I got from Corvette America that I have yet to install. So I checked 'em. Guess what? Same numbers on the joints, and the package says "DANA" in the part number. Hmmm...

vettfixr

:iagree:

kfede1

To me it is not so much that Dana/Spicer is bad. It looks like this is good stuff according to the feedback on the forum. I think the parts were probably fine, and the price was fine. My frustration was with sales and customer service telling me what I wanted to hear rather than the actual facts.. (twice). I just want to be dealt with in a honest straightforward manner.