Buyer beware with online parts shopping
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:10 pm
Call me an old fart but there's nothing more sure and comforting than holding a part in your hand at a physical store and paying for it, knowing that it is what it is.
Recently I was looking for a very specific set of nuts and washers. I posted a thread about the whole process I was doing that required these specific nuts and washers for the 454 crusader engine. In brief without going into the reason, the nuts are 3/8” brass “heavy nuts” with a nyloc insert. The washers are 3/8” copper washers. The actual OEM replacement parts are almost impossible to find but they do exist. Sierra # 18-8540 is the replacement kit of 4,,,, supposedly. One needs 4 kits for both engines.
I thought I had finally found a crusader marine supply company on Long Island NY that had plenty of them in stock. But they would not ship to Canada direct nor would they accept my credit card unless I went through their Paypal. So in addition to getting the wrong thing, I had to pay $18.00 for broker fees and $30.00 for Paypal. The reason I bring up those expenses it that it really wasn't worth while to return them since I wouldn't get that money back which was about half the bill, once it got to the west coast of Canada.
In hindsight it was my neglectful mistake to not insist that the person on the phone do a physical look at the kit for me when I payed over the phone. Heavy nut means it needs a 11/16” wrench as opposed to the regular 9/16” wrench. Again I won't go into the reasoning for a heavy nut, or copper not brass washers, because my point here is all about not getting what I was supposed to get. I received regular 3/8” brass nuts/w nyloc inserts and brass flat washers in the kit, not copper. I can get these nuts and washers off the shelf at a local fastener supply store for just a couple bucks. The company is not getting back to me about this problem and it's been over a month so I'm not expecting a reply now. I don't know if it's Sierra's fault or the supplier's fault. I know that Sierra has the right stuff because I needed the 9 1/2” mounting studs as well. Which are needed for the 8" riser version. When I had my wet exhaust parts cleaned out, the studs broke off and the company cleaning the exhaust parts ordered me a replacement stud kit. I received a kit that included 4 studs, 4 nuts and 4 washers from Sierra. But the studs were 7” instead. Meaning that they were for a later model. The 9 1/2” stud, nut, washer kits were no longer available, apparently . But, the nuts and washers that came in the short stud kit were correct. Heavy nut/ nyloc and copper washers. That makes me think that the supplier just put a kit together and they weren't even from Sierra. The sticker tag on each set was generated from an in-house printer. It did not have the Sierra logo on the kit in the small zip lock bag.
Since this fiasco happened, I did track down a company in California that have the right nuts. I had them do a physical check and even in the part # description it has 11/16 at the end of the part number. Mind you they are super expensive at just over 10 bucks each CAD, and I need 16 of them and since they are nyloc, it's recommended to replace them each time they are removed. Not the end of the world since the inside of the exhaust is only checked every 4 years or so. The copper washers are readily available at any auto supply store. They are used as oil pan drain plug washers.
I'd gladly mention the name of the company here but I don't know if that's permitted here.
Recently I was looking for a very specific set of nuts and washers. I posted a thread about the whole process I was doing that required these specific nuts and washers for the 454 crusader engine. In brief without going into the reason, the nuts are 3/8” brass “heavy nuts” with a nyloc insert. The washers are 3/8” copper washers. The actual OEM replacement parts are almost impossible to find but they do exist. Sierra # 18-8540 is the replacement kit of 4,,,, supposedly. One needs 4 kits for both engines.
I thought I had finally found a crusader marine supply company on Long Island NY that had plenty of them in stock. But they would not ship to Canada direct nor would they accept my credit card unless I went through their Paypal. So in addition to getting the wrong thing, I had to pay $18.00 for broker fees and $30.00 for Paypal. The reason I bring up those expenses it that it really wasn't worth while to return them since I wouldn't get that money back which was about half the bill, once it got to the west coast of Canada.
In hindsight it was my neglectful mistake to not insist that the person on the phone do a physical look at the kit for me when I payed over the phone. Heavy nut means it needs a 11/16” wrench as opposed to the regular 9/16” wrench. Again I won't go into the reasoning for a heavy nut, or copper not brass washers, because my point here is all about not getting what I was supposed to get. I received regular 3/8” brass nuts/w nyloc inserts and brass flat washers in the kit, not copper. I can get these nuts and washers off the shelf at a local fastener supply store for just a couple bucks. The company is not getting back to me about this problem and it's been over a month so I'm not expecting a reply now. I don't know if it's Sierra's fault or the supplier's fault. I know that Sierra has the right stuff because I needed the 9 1/2” mounting studs as well. Which are needed for the 8" riser version. When I had my wet exhaust parts cleaned out, the studs broke off and the company cleaning the exhaust parts ordered me a replacement stud kit. I received a kit that included 4 studs, 4 nuts and 4 washers from Sierra. But the studs were 7” instead. Meaning that they were for a later model. The 9 1/2” stud, nut, washer kits were no longer available, apparently . But, the nuts and washers that came in the short stud kit were correct. Heavy nut/ nyloc and copper washers. That makes me think that the supplier just put a kit together and they weren't even from Sierra. The sticker tag on each set was generated from an in-house printer. It did not have the Sierra logo on the kit in the small zip lock bag.
Since this fiasco happened, I did track down a company in California that have the right nuts. I had them do a physical check and even in the part # description it has 11/16 at the end of the part number. Mind you they are super expensive at just over 10 bucks each CAD, and I need 16 of them and since they are nyloc, it's recommended to replace them each time they are removed. Not the end of the world since the inside of the exhaust is only checked every 4 years or so. The copper washers are readily available at any auto supply store. They are used as oil pan drain plug washers.
I'd gladly mention the name of the company here but I don't know if that's permitted here.
