This might be the stupidest thing ever but(overhaul kits)

Absolutely not. Chinese parts are junk, and a good chance when they fail they will destroy your block. $3,500 is a very good charge for labor. Go with genuine Detroit parts, and make sure you replace the bull gear.

 

When you think of the value in cheap labor, think about the guy changing your oil at the Petro.

He pulls the plastic off your filter with filthy hands, he puts some dirty oil on those filthy fingers and lubes the oil filter o ring, then spends 5 minutes knocking dirt into the filter while trying to get it threaded on, he finally gets it started on the threads after dropping it two more times in the pile of oil dri on the floor.

Then he drags that oil nozzle across the floor and drops it into your fill tube.

Tell me about Always Save labor @ 400k miles

 

Cheap, fast, or good.

Pick 2.

 

So much stuff is made in China now. People holding on to that "only made in the USA is quality" dream are dilusuonal. China and the USA are best friends.

 

Difference is that a large manufacturer (ie Cummins, Detroit, CAT, etc) has the ability to demand exacting specifications and quality when they contract out a production run of parts from a Chinese factory and they will warranty the parts if defective. Without pressure from them they will likely just slap together a kit with subpar materials and crap quality control because they have no one to hold them accountable.

Like was said, buyer beware and you get what you paid for.

 

Many oem’s after a certain amount of time release the parts solely to the aftermarket. Many do this after 10 years. That means they have no control over the standards anymore. How many times have you run into a situation with an oem dealer or service shop like Holt/Cat here for example that the part is no longer available from factory and has to be ordered from an aftermarket supplier? Sales invoice always says in small print. NO WARRANTY.
Detroit Diesel has changed ownership and restructured since the days of the 60 series. I truly doubt they have there old part numbers made to the exact same standards anymore.

 

Two weeks ago i needed an unloader kit for a TU-Flo 501 for this Kw i’ve been cleaning up. We have a place in San Antonio that is Bendix Distributor and used to do compressor remans in house for this region for Bendix. They could no longer get this simple unloader kit that fits the 500, 501, 600, 700, and 1400 compressors from Bendix anymore. They had to order it from Automann. Bendix has sold there nos to them.

 

Alibaba-Chinese eBay. Wouldn’t trust those parts. They can’t even properly describe the stuff they sell in English. Plenty of good aftermarket kits available in the USA. Mahle, FP, HHP, Interstate McBee. Top quality manufacturing. Time proven.

 

Detroit Diesel has been owned by Daimler since around 2000, Freightliner was sold to Daimler in 1981 very sad. As the info I looked up.