Dorman: A possible unpopular opinion

[Schurkey]

The Dorman lug-studs for my '97 K2500 8-lug were made in USA.
Dorman replacement quick-coupler that screws into the intake manifold is a very fine piece--far better than Genuine GM.
The axle disconnect shift-fork for GMT360/370 (Trailblazer and clones) seems to be improved over the GM design. 3 contact points on the Dorman instead of two on the Genuine GM fork.

Pretty-much everything else is cheap junk. They used to be a respectable company before they off-shored almost everything.

 

[Boots97]

The Dorman lug-studs for my '97 K2500 8-lug were made in USA.
Dorman replacement quick-coupler that screws into the intake manifold is a very fine piece--far better than Genuine GM.
The axle disconnect shift-fork for GMT360/370 (Trailblazer and clones) seems to be improved over the GM design. 3 contact points on the Dorman instead of two on the Genuine GM fork.

Pretty-much everything else is cheap junk. They used to be a respectable company before they off-shored almost everything.

I've talked to others about this. One of my coworkers says Dorman parts depend on what vehicle you have. This coworker has a Chrysler Sebring and his Dorman parts he's used are fine. My boss at another job has a 2004 Toyota Corolla. He's used their drain bolts just fine and most of the simple hardware like nuts, bolts, and studs are fine, but him and I agreed that most of their stuff is trash.

 

[Schurkey]

Dorman gets "some" stuff right. Probably by mistake.

Forgot to mention--their bolt-kit to attach a Trailblazer 4.2L inline six-popper exhaust manifold is better than the GM bolts. The Dorman exhaust manifold "kit" for that engine has some significant problems, though. But then, the Genuine GM exhaust manifold is a piece of crap, too.

 

[454cid]

Dorman gets "some" stuff right. Probably by mistake.

I'm not normally even up at this time, and here you are making me laugh!!!

 

[Erik the Awful]

There's a calculus of what it would cost to make the part better, and how much of a quality/reputation gain would come from an improvement. If a particular part is crappy, we need to be more proactive about saying it to the vendors.

Working on Air Force equipment, we'd occasionally get batches of bad parts, but if nobody did a Product Quality Deficiency Report, supply never knew there was an issue. Then there were times we did PQDRs and they got ignored. That cost the Air Force a chunk of money.

I remember a series of aircraft towbars where the plates in the receiver were welded 1/4" too close together and none of the parts fit. Whenever you ordered a receiver you prayed you got one from a good batch. We filed multiple PQDRs over several years before the item manager would listen to our shop chief that the parts were being made wrong.

We should probably be emailing Dorman or their sellers praising what's good and calling out what's bad. A complaint will never hit ears if it's never spoken.

 

[boy&hisdogs]

I can second what the OP said about the doorman door pins being wrong. I had the same experience. Pounded the crap out of them and ended up having to chuck them in a drill and sand them down to get them in.

And it didn't fix my door sag anyway.

 

[tinfoil_hat]

Everything you have said about Dorman is true, and yet they have saved my butt more than once.

 

[Boots97]

I can second what the OP said about the doorman door pins being wrong. I had the same experience. Pounded the crap out of them and ended up having to chuck them in a drill and sand them down to get them in.

And it didn't fix my door sag anyway.

Honestly, I wouldn't have even gone that far with trying to make the pins work. At that point, I would've just bought new GM pins. There's a solid old style pin that I used and there's a new greaseable type out there. I went with the old style for simplicity, but I've heard people really like the new style too. The old style pins aren't made anymore AFAIK but there's plenty of new old stock out there online.

 

[df2x4]

Honestly, I wouldn't have even gone that far with trying to make the pins work. At that point, I would've just bought new GM pins. There's a solid old style pin that I used and there's a new greaseable type out there. I went with the old style for simplicity, but I've heard people really like the new style too. The old style pins aren't made anymore AFAIK but there's plenty of new old stock out there online.

Cunningham Machine makes the old style non greaseable set with nice bronze bushings. I have them in the front doors of my Suburban and I've been very happy with them. Probably going to use them exclusively from now on.

 

[Boots97]

Cunningham Machine makes the old style non greaseable set with nice bronze bushings. I have them in the front doors of my Suburban and I've been very happy with them. Probably going to use them exclusively from now on.

I saw those too. I was reluctant to use them bc of my experience with Dorman pins so that's why I went with NOS OEM pins. Glad to know that they work!