This was kind of annoying…

[57taskforce]

I had to do the hub seals and rear brakes on the driver side of my 1998 K2500 today. Ordered the shoes and GM hub seal from rock auto earlier in the week. After I ordered everything I realized I had a leak on the passenger side seal as well. I just decided to pick one up from Autozone because I didn’t have time for an online delivery or to get over to the local dealer. Any more I only use the 2001+ HD truck seals and they do a good job even on the older style 14 bolt FF hubs. This is what I found when I unboxed everything this afternoon. I paid almost $20 more for the GM seal. I’ve always used the GM seals in applications like this where it’s a pain in the butt to have a sup par part fail.

The pictures didnt upload as clear as they are on my phone, they are the identical seal, same part number and marking on them both and everything.

[Richard]

That is just the way things are and have been for some time now. Unfortunately in most all cases. American made just means you are lining a greedy American company's pockets. The Camaro GM fuel pump I purchased for my LSA swap said made in Korea right on the part. Really sucks as buying repair parts is a crapshoot. Not that all foreign parts are bad. Sucks that all I get for American made is a higher price, sticker on the box and typically a lesser warranty.

[72c20customcamper]

When I did the rear hub bearings on my 68 c20 I bought Durolast bearings cause I needed it back together quickly . The parts inside the boxes were Timkin made in USA both cone and cups . And they were way cheaper than even Rock Auto . It’s all luck of the draw with chain stores .

[Boog]

Yeah, I shopped around for a new distributor for my '91 truck a couple of years ago and settled on a new one "made for Napa" as it was half the price of a Delco one, if I could find one. I brought the Napa one home and opened it to find a new unit alright sealed in plastic with Carquest paperwork inside. Same unit others sell I guess. Slap a different colorful label on a plain white box and send it on out. It had the Napa label on the box but had Carquest paperwork inside. Boy, I'll tell you what...

[Sheepdip]

Replaced the king pins, disc brake pads, rotors, seals and bearings on the 40 F*rd Coupe this spring. Went to O'rielly's and got my parts, the bearings, races and seals all were Timken in an assortment of different branded boxes.