On Mar 26, 11:58 pm, Tim wrote:
On Mar 26, 9:04 pm, wrote:



On Mar 26, 6:43 pm, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:10:10 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:
Cuba, under Castro, has not. He has vehemently remained anti-USA, anti-west
and has not indicated any willingness to negotiate differences. Things may
change when both he and his brother are out of the picture.

The cigars - think of the cigars!!

I have had no problems getting non-chinese made auto parts. If it
says "Made In China" is give it back and ask for the slightly more
expensive one and generally it is of better quality. Brake shoes are
a case in point. The US made ones were only $5 a pair more expensive
than the chinese ones and certainly better made.
Chinese rebuilt alternators have a mean lifetime of only about 30,000
miles whereas the Taiwanese or US rebuilt ones last much longer.
Autozone rues the day they started a free lifetime replacement policy
for parts because I replaced 5 such alternators before I decided to
buy a little more expensive US rebuilt one. The Yellow Auto ( I
forget the brand) batteries from WalMart made in China have generally
been a poor buy lasting only a couple of complete discharges and I am
replacing them with those from Sears.
Harbor Freight is also "all Chinese all the time" and almost all of
their stuff is total crap, basically disposable tools. This stuff
isnt evn worth my time to shop for.
So, the bottom line is that I have had no problems going "No Chinese".

But we're in two different worlds. But i'll wager heavily that the
"American rebuilt" alternator is loaded with chinese components.

Like I told one customer. there's two types of chinese parts. Cheap
chinese parts, and cheaper chinese parts. it's part of my business to
know who has the better lines.

BTW, that total chinese alternator isn't total chinese either. One
supply house that I use has alternators. Delco copies and on the box
it will say "This product is assembled with parts manufactured in "US,
CR,TW,CA,CN,.

Granted it's possibe that the only US part may actually be the box.
But..

I will take a quality US rewound armature, over a PRC ir INDIA mfj
anyday! But when it comes to the likes of castings/housings even
brushs or bushings? It's a challenge to get anything made stateside.
Even small berings like Timken, NTN,NSK, NDH, TPI, KBC,KOYO from a
2000, up to a 305 bearing are all outsourced. if I could find
american, I'd buy it and use it.

My tools are mostly Snap-on, I pay good money for them because they
are quality and the service is good. I do carry "el Cheapo" on the
boat because rarely if I must work on something while on the water,
I'd rather baptize a $3.00 Rural King socket, than $18.00 one fromSnap-
on.

I absolutely agree with the Harbor Freight stuff. you look at the pic
and read the description, which says "RUGGED..HEAVY DUTY
CONSTRUCTION!?

and you think. man if that's rugged and heavy duty, I'd hate to see
what the thin, flimsy stuff is.....

HArbor Freight had a heavy duty trailer jack for $29.99 but it was
China made and seemed to be the flimsiest steel with barely a nickel
coating and a wheel with just a bushing instead of a bearing, truly
worthless. Instead I bought one from Boaters World for nearly $100
that is heavy stainless steel with an oversize wheel with bearings.
Yes, it cost a lot more but I will not be replacing it every yr and my
time is worth a lot.