Steer axle wheel bearings

Exactly .. sounds like @JB7 has use of someones checkbook.. or he has won the lottery and wipes his rectum with 100.00 bills

 

Original poster Dallison stated: "Without the part number to cross reference I’m just buying parts and hoping they are correct. It took me and the guys at fleet pride over an hour and 2 purchases and returns just to get the correct shocks for the truck."
That is the choice he made by not buying from the dealer. He wants to be cheap, ok, there is a price to pay for that in time and aggravation, and many times quality. That could have been avoided by buying an OEM part from the dealer, yes and probably paying more.

"The answer is obviously that they want to force you to rely on THEM, not do it yourself."
Dallison or you can still DIY. Most dealers are not going to look up a part so you can buy it somewhere else. You can buy the part at the dealer and do the work yourself. Or go to an online parts seller and buy the part(s).

For many car makes there are dealers that sell OEM parts online at a discount. Don't see that for heavy truck. PACCAR etc. probably prohibit it. A Snap-on tool dealer can't sell online, it is prohibited in the franchise agreement.

 

Thats the gist of what youre saying, which is exactly the problem he is having in the first place.

if you cant get an oem part number, you cant cross-reference it to anything else. So telling me that a dealer wont give me a part # is the issue in the first place, if *I* own the truck, why is THAT privleged information? Once again, we are back to oems making it difficult or impossible to get information so that they can make more money.

I understand the motivations, but it sure doesnt make me want to buy from them, if they simply made the information available or easy to find, they either would have competition (good for consumers, and *ostensibly improves product quality from oem*) or even have more well-informed customers, so THEY didnt have to waste time looking up part numbers, billy-joe bigrigger could just call up and ask if they had "x" in stock and what price.

Snap-on makes nothing on tools, they are selling a brand, it's apple's blue or green text in the mechanic's realm. Theyre very good quality, but i dont need a tool I use once a year to cost 1000$ but be rated for continuous use, I need a 100$ good enough tool for that.

Webasto sells diesel heaters, mostly through "authorized retail partners" and theyre about 1200$ before install, they last 4 or 5 years, chinesium grade clones last 2-3 years for 160$. Why in the world should I buy a webasto then?

 

Worthless story story here .. but call Peterbilt in Des Moines yesterday priced a CAC tub for a engine swap on a 388 .. the tube was 565. Called 6 or 7 salvage yards looking for 1 no luck
Just called Peterbilt back gona bite the bullet and pony up .. talked the patsman down to 400 for the tube ... but mind ya we by alot of parts from Peterbilt.. the partsman openly told me their cost was 375
All that said Peterbilt in Des Moines always willing gives us parts # and we shop around .. but 80% of the time they give us a very competitive price .. and we're not a big shop by any means
But it still pays to shop around

 

Below is one example for a 2007 Peterbilt 379. NTN has a cross reference chart online. The right part of what I pasted is cut off. Bower by NTN, Timken and SKF use the same #. ex: Set 406

Below is from the SKF website.

 

I like that shop in des moines, I swapped my alternator at the casino down the road and had issues with my pulley, they swapped it for me no charge. It was a long walk tho. Haha

 

Thats a long walk no doubt
They are a good shop thats forsure they are always willing to help