aftermarket parts

[slomo]

Do you guys ever use Stens, Oregon or that other aftermarket supplier? I prefer OEM parts. Wondering since everything comes from China anyway...... Most of the time, those junk parts fail on me faster or do not fit. OEM parts are only a few bucks more. Some people and I want to say Taryl might use them with good luck. Could be wrong on that. Oregon blades are top shelf. Air filters seem legit too. What do you guys think?

slomo

 

[Fish]

I never have seen any aftermarket Briggs starter gears hold up.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

I use them mixed. generally, for any internal engine parts i use OEM. I generally use stens for gaskets, or coils and air filters, fuel filters and pumps, occasionally a carburetor, or 2 cycle carb kit.control and engagement cables as well.
in some cases some of the stens parts are made by the same company that makes a part for the OEM.

Alot of stens parts also come with some letters on the package that i like, "Made in the US".

 

[bertsmobile1]

Parts that come from my wholesalers all have a 12 month warranty .
Stens , Oregon, Prime Line , Rotary & RGS so I fit them where available.
The only problem I have had was a bad batch of fuel taps from a wholesaler I no longer use ( Jacmax) whose tag line was "cheapest parts " or something like that.
As for parts from China, I buy them only from the factory direct or from a wholesale outlet in wholesale quantities, but only when they are branded or come in branded packages .
To date nothing has given me grief, but I do inspect them carefully before fitting.
People who make or sell quality items want to sell more so they want everyone to KNOW who made them or WHO sold them so they come branded .
People selling junk or potentially rubbish of unknown quality because they are just surplus dealers do not want anyone to know where they came from so sell unbranded parts in plain or no packaging and these are avoided like the plague .
As are "genuine recognised brands " at prices too cheap to be true .
I regularly see stuff on the web at less than 1/2 the wholesale price with free delivery. These have to be fakes .

 

[slomo]

As Bert said, Rotary was the brand I was looking for. And that made in the USA deal is another trigger to come here and ask you shop pros about. Thanks guys.

slomo

 

[StarTech]

I once used a lot aftermarket parts and had problems with most of them. Some however were very good. But in 2018 I lost my main after market source when TEW closed down. They did sell most of after market parts that I brought.

This actually was both a real pain for a few months as I develop new vendors sources and a blessing. It was actually at a time that a couple distributors were looking to expand their customer so lucked out getting into both of them. I now get OEM part just about as the same price as most of the after market parts; sometimes even for less.

You got to watch out for Stens as sometimes they are selling OEM parts at higher prices. I even have one example of Delta ignition switch where they wanted $25 for one switch but my OEM distributor had the same switch for under $6. Needless to say the OEM distributor got the order for the five switches.

I of course is doing enough volume now to qualify for free shipping from the distributors too on most orders. My main current two distributors are only two days out on in stock items. Also both carry Oregon parts so it helps since I buy a lot chainsaw chains. Both vendors give about the same discount on Oregon but the closest delivery time wise seldom have Oregon items in stock. I got four cutoff blades inbound currently out VA as that distributor had them in stock and the customer is needing them Saturday.

Delivery times is also important so some times I pay more for in order to get them in quickly.

The Best advice I can offer is to do your research in costs and delivery times that fit you situation. Here I only got 35K in inventory parts. Having these distributor has actually allowed me to reduce the in house inventory from 60K down to 35K. Even that will further reduce as times goes by.

As said you got to careful as to who you buy from especially those Amazon and Ebay vendors. I had one case where I brought a couple spindles from an Amazon vendor that were defective. Not only did I have to pay the return shipping, I got stuck with a 30% restocking fee. I should have keep them and use what was good. Both were advertise as OEM spindle but in fact they were Rotary spindle that I had already gotten in from my Rotary distributor and those 6 spindle had the same defect. At least I got full credit on those spindles.

For starters I have been using DB Electrical the last five years and have not seen any problems with them. Many of the ones I use are the same J and N starters just at much lower cost.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Very few of the aftermarket parts are made in the USA, the exceptions would be blades, oil filters & belts.
Most of the parts are made in China , Israel , Brazil , India , Tiawn or Hong Kong .
However the BIG difference is the branded parts usually have undergone some sort of QC and will come with a warranty .
And none of them were defective parts bought as scrap metal then on sold as being good .

And yes just because it is after market does not mean it is going to be cheaper .
I queried the $ 56 price for a capicitor thinking it was a printing error for $ 5.60.
But no they really wanted $ 56.
I used a Jaguar one which was $ 4.25
Same story with belts one supplier can be double the price of another for one size then reversed for another size .

 

[Laabk2]

I only use "Aftermarket Blades, Air and Oil Filters. The blades are actually heavier than the OEM and last longer. The filters are the same and meet all the specs of the OEM