Indian rear suspension arms
 

I've spent the last month or so attempting to replace the rusty rear suspension arms on my 2005 ZT. What I thought would be a relatively easy job, rapidly turned in to a nightmare.

I purchased a set of 'genuine' arms, only to discover these are now reproduced in India and have a myriad of problems which have been well documented in several posts on this forum.

So I then found some used, but original arms in reasonable condition for sale in Portugal, which I had acid dipped and re-coated. This required the removal and replacement of the rubber bushes which are fitted in the end. I looked on Rimmer Brother's website, and they were indeed available, so I took the easy route and burnt out the old ones, and then used a hacksaw to cut a slot in the sleeve and knocked it out. I then duly purchased two new, genuine bushes (part number RGX101110), and when the arms finally came back, I went to fit them. I even had a bench press and a load of different sizes sockets standing by at the ready, only there was no need to worry about any of that, the damned things pushed straight through the hole!


(The two 'new' arms are the original set I've had re-coated from Portugal, and the two rusty looking ones are the originals removed from my car).

After some head scratching, I noticed the written on the packet for the bushes were the dreaded words 'made in india'.

I took some measurements of the bushes, and some of the hole in the arms. And I then contacted Rimmer Brothers who measured a set of ones they found at the bottom of their parts bin that had 'Made in GB' written on them, these seemed to measure slightly larger than the ones marked as being made in India.

https://i.vgy.me/iPPWX5.jpg

They said they'd get a set out to me, which arrived the next day, I opened the box, only to find that they'd sent me the exact same bushes still with 'made in india' written on them, so I contacted them again and this time we finally got there, a lovely set of bushes marked 'Made in GB', still marked with the exact same part number as the Indian ones (RGX101110), but low and behold, they fit the original arms perfectly. With a nice interference fit.

https://i.vgy.me/c8w6i7.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/NzyiL4.jpg

https://i.vgy.me/sA9uYb.jpg

So not only are X-Part supplying crappy arms that have pressings in the wrong place, welds missing, and springs that don't seat properly, to which they have attempted to get people to 'bodge' by cutting bits off their rubber spring seats. They also have different sized tubes welded on the end and therefore different sized bushes fitted.

They have clearly been royally shafted by this supplier in India who have supplied something that is nowhere near to spec, but it also very apparent that X-Part have performed no quality control inspections themselves whatsoever, and don't even realise that the bushes they are supplying on the same part number which are made in India are a slightly different size to the originals which were made in Great Britain. But neither are compatible. Indian bushes are too small for original arms, and presumably British made bushes will be too big to fit in the new Indian made arms. And they all have the same part numbers!

X-Part are now seemingly supplying utter rubbish, and it is now completely down to chance as to the quality of the parts that you will actually receive.

It's stuff like this that will be the death of these cars :shrug:

This is something I brought up eighteen months ago when I first bought a pair of Indian arms.

I visited XPart HQ at Hinckley and spoke at length about my concerns with their supplier quality assurance engineer.

To be fair to them, they had sent a pair of used arms to the supplier for the purposes of replication, as the original press tooling had long since been scrapped by the Chinese, but the resultant components should have never been passed as an acceptable replacement.

I spent hours measuring and reworking these arms as supplied ex works, in order that I was happy to fit them to my own car(s), and indeed have another new pair in stock.

The sad thing is, I'll more than likely end up binning them off, as I don't have the enthusiasm to spend hours sorting these to fit to my wife's car, and more than likely her car will end up being scrapped when the test expires at the end of next month.

It should be noted that a new supplier has been sourced by XPart, and although I've not seen the revised parts, it is to be hoped that the original concerns raised, have now been addressed.

Brian :D

I have a new pair of the Indian arms. Did I waste my money or can they fit if fettled? I don't need them right now but dont want ro think I have spares if I don't?

Yes, they can be made to fit Dawn........they will always be better than rusty originals, but never as good as the original parts.

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/a...1&d=1567664194

Brian :D

Looks like Neil's workmate is in better nick than mine too !!:getmecoat:

Wow. Lack of quality control on parts supplied by Xp. & R's.

Who'd have thought. :shrug:;)

Only been going on for years..:duh:

And not the only ones ???

Thin end of the wedge I'm afraid. Poor quality parts are creeping into the MGR parts bin. 5 years ahead looks difficult and 10 years ahead looks grim.


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Problems like this are common in the classic car world. The problem is we are our own worse enemies. When you ring up for a part we ask the supplier is that the best price they can do? Of course this gets back to the manufacturer eventually so they are made cheaper and cheaper.

What we should be asking for on any parts we buy for our cars classic or modern is what part comes with the longest guarantee? I will now only fit Delco Remy alternators, 36 month warranty for example. I am fed up with replacing alternators that have just lasted 13 months. Yes they might only be half the price of the Delco Remy unit but I like things to last.

If you are lucky enough to be able to afford a new car it comes with a 3 year warranty, in that time there will probably be a few niggles that need sorting but you wont be replacing an exhaust or battery for example. Anyone who has fitted an exhaust or battery on there car recently is probably going to have to replace it again in the next 3 years.

I recently bought a "genuine" MG- X Part Hydromount.. Turns up with made in China stamped on it.:shrug:

There is usually a transition from mainstream to classic. In 13 years or Scimitar GTE ownership I rarely came up with parts being NLA. Yes there were pieces of interior trim that were NLA and they were attracting a premium price if you could find a piece for sale from a trader or member. Many components were made to original spec and very good but that takes planning and you pay for it too.
I rebuilt the front suspension and steering in 2003 with parts costing £400. Today those parts are over £800. Get ready for price rises.

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