Mega Hassle

[tequilatool]

Hi all.

I'm here to just vent my total, complete and utter frustration at trying to replace upper ball joints and shocks on my 98 k1500. My problem is.... i can't f.kn buy any.

ok, so, ball joints are toast along with the front struts. I took the front end apart, unloading the torsion bars etc. The ball joint removed no problem, not riveted. Strut removed no problem, sway bar link removed and replaced no problem. Now, sent my wife to autozone here in Guadalajara, Mexico. She comes back with ball joints which look to fit but the bolts are 10cm short for going through the upper control arm. The bolts which came off the old one have stripped threads so i need new bolts and nuts. Another trip to town to get bolts, get home to install the ball joints with my new bolts, and the f.kn bolts snap, obviously not hardened, probably made in china, or in a shambolic factory somewhere in Mexico. Virtually no pressure applied and they snapped like they were made from toffee. So, im thinking, i see the picture of my needed ball joints in autozone usa.com.... they come with bolts 40cm long and 30cm long. I reckoned maybe i got the wrong ball joint, checked the part number on the box and sure enough, not for my truck. Hmmm better check the new struts, open one box, shock looks to fit. i check the part number on the zone website and again, not the correct shock, website says its a rear strut, i need a front strut. WTF. So, i open the other box for the other strut, unwrap it and , this strut keeps extending and extending some more. Wtf, ok, definitely not for my truck, its about 12ft long lol.

So, autozone here gave my wife the wrong ball joints, the wrong shock absorbers of which the 2 she got were completely different. So, off she goes back to the zone to see wtf is going on. I gave her the part numbers from the usa autozone to make sure this time. Well, no ball joints, they dont stock them, not even in the Usa. Well, after a sad chuckle, i know thats bullcrap. Can't believe im having so much trouble finding a f.kn ball joint.

Ok, sent her to the gm dealer tonight, 900 dollars for an upper control arm assembly. Another long slow sad chuckle to myself. She's on her way home now with the correct struts from the zone, no ball joints, and no grease gun for the non existent new ball joints. Visit 3 Autozones in the city, not one f.kn grease gun on the shelves. What an absolute travesty folks. You lot are so god damn lucky up there sittin pretty with o reillys everywhere, napas, autozones, peps etc. I can't even get a ball joint or find a place that sells a grease gun. Holy smokes, wtf. Trucks sittin in the garden in pieces, has been for over a week now. Takes an hour to get to the city so it's a real pain in the ring. Just checked ebay with some goat selling ball joints, delivery to mexico arriving 17th dec - 12 jan 2016. More sad sad chuckling.
Hope this gives ya'll a right good laugh, i'm about to cry. A flight to texas for 2 ball joints should fix it, maybe find a grease gun while i'm there eh. Gutted!!! You lot not laughing yet.... some more comedy for ya down here, went to homedepot looking to get bags for my shopvac. They dont sell them down here, but they sell the fakn shopvac. I was escorted outta the depot by security after telling the manager he's a useless c.nt!! Have a good one folks and thanks for letting me let off some steam!!

 

[vaporlock]

Damn, I feel for you! I'm in Sweden, which is on the other side of the planet from US and Mexico, and I got a new upper ball joint in about a week, ordered it from Summit with air fright and cost wasn't too bad. From what I can see Summit ships to Mexico.

 

[FastOrange]

I have had awesome luck with summit and rockauto shipping to Canada. Always pleased!

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

 

[tequilatool]

I hear ya MsChevy and fast orange. Checked summit last night and its crazy reasonable, moog ball joints for under 30 bucks, wow. Gonna give the truck a good once over then call summit for sure. Its the only way to go. I'd put money on the final cost with shipping to mexico, being equal to or more than shipping to sweden, as this country is completely mad when it comes to shipping anything. Took over a month to send a christmas card to the uk last year. this year i got my birthday cards 1.5 months late lol. In most cases here it costs more to ship the item than what the item costs. Then when the goodies arrive i get hit with more costs for taxes and duties despite trying to avoid this.. Lots of stuff goes "missing" in the post here. Past experiences.... 5 items ordered on ebay, 2 arrive , 3 lost. Not a good ratio! Its a 12 hr drive to Texas for me, done it 3 times so far, and it was worthwhile. But its a dangerous drive the closer i get to the border, the mexican cops always want bribes, the military aint much better. Seat of the pants stuff, very exciting and real.

 

[vaporlock]

I think my $30 ball joint ended up costing about $85 including air fright, custom fees + taxes (10% + 25%) and a few bucks to the company I ordered thru so yeah living outside of the states and having a US car or truck is not so cheap.
Really sucks about the corruption, it also really sucks that it is that difficult to get parts for a truck like this, I mean they did build these trucks in Mexico too it should be easier! I hope it works out for you!

 

[tequilatool]

Latest: Ordered ball joints and a grease gun last wednesday from summit. Now thursday 1 week later and they are still not here. Trucks been on jacks for 3 weeks now. Yeah these trucks are everywhere here so i can't understand why i cannot find the correct parts for mine. Autozone are pretty much useless here. There are millions of little parts stores here but the ones i have found have no moog stuff, and the ball joints i looked at will fit my truck, but not correctly. Last one i found, the bolts were not long enough and the protective rubber boot which covers the ball joint was a different design which in turn meant that when fitted to the truck the bolts would have worn a hole in the boot within minutes. Its totally typical of what goes on here in mexico, with an anything will do attitude. Thats why my truck was a total mess when i bought it. Brake issues due to caliper bolts being different lengths with stripped threads on the hub, even had silicon sealant on the calipers lol, bad lower ball joints and bushings due to the torsion bars being totally maxed out, virtually no front suspension, brick hard. Its slowly been destroying itself. Here in mexico people destroy their vehicles, and never fix em correctly, the newer the car/truck the harder they drive em, absolute crazyness on the roads , wacky races. Worst i have seen are folk with newer toyota sr5 pickups, they completely and utterly hammer them up and down the roads. That is one truck i would never buy second hand here,take a trip to the city here anytime and your sure to see some goat driving a new toyota truck at warp speed. Anyhow, it is a travesty trying to get good parts for something so common, but i'll keep on trying!

 

[TylerZ281500]

dont go to autozone, junk parts, moogs not great quality anymore really, napa ro rockauto really despite rockautos crap warrantys. if insistant on moog go advance or oreillys. i know they have them.

as far as bolts most the manufacturers use ty bolts i snapped all mine during install go to your nearest fastenal or elsewhere hell order them online and get good hardeend grade 8 or better bolts and you wont regret it.

i cant imagine the frustration out somewhere besides the states, but keep clam, cant get upset over others ignorance, in the states you can get all those parts easy so they lied. and if they dont have them in stock they can order them from elsewhere. call summit and ask about your parts, they never take that long, im close by so i get everything next day almost. but uslaly if you have a coomplaint its solved immediately or they give you some nice promotional items or credit.

 

[tequilatool]

Yeah, gone are the days of tightening a nut till it wont go no more. Made from chocolate and fudge down here. Really ruff roads where i live so i need real nuts n bolts. To get anything delivered down here from the states is a nightmare cost wise, someone somewhere seems to be adding taxes or customs duties or some other rip off charge to the total costs. I thought mexico had a trade agreement(nafta) with the states, that agreement seems like a legit way for some dirty mexican to add a few hundred extra pesos onto your goods.
I got the basic delivery, an iparcel whatever that is, because it was the only option where i could know for sure what the final price delivered to my door would be. Next day and expedited just leave me at the mercy of the rip off gods, usually at least an extra hundred bucks to be paid when the item gets to the doorstep, on top of the taxes and duties etc quoted on the websites. Just a joke really. Summit told me 7 to 10 days so i'll just have to wait, funny thing on the shipment tracking, my goods went from california to new jersey lol, other side of the country , now it says they are somewhere in transit, in mexico, so thats a start. I just pray that it gets here.

 

[GT_80]

I'm sorry man- I always buy my stuff from advanced so I can look my parts up (so I know they are right), pay online (save up to $40 each $100 or more order), and drive to the store and pick them up most times.

I really feel for you- My '80 C10, the only autozone that had parts for it was in new hampshire, which usually ended up being over an hour round trip. But I saved sales tax there.

 

[tequilatool]

yeah, thanks, but dont be sorry, be grateful you live in a civilized place. Looking up anything on a website here and actually finding it is a luxury i dont have. For a while there i had to look up stuff on the USA autozone site, get their part number then order it at autozone here. The site here doesn't go as far as listing parts, so its pretty much useless.Makes no sense to me a parts shop having a website where you cant search for parts!! lol. Thats the way she blows down 'ere. And an hours drive in the US is quite a safe affair, life threatening here. Give myself a pat on the back each time i make it home, bigger celebration when i make it home with the correct stuff.