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Aftermarket Final drives .. Alibaba or 'u s' aftermarket?

Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,062
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
John, I suspect it's not a planetary hub problem but a hydraulic motor problem and the fact it's blowing the motor shaft seal is a very good indicator. The planetary gearbox may not have suffered any damage what so ever. There's no point in fixing what ain't broke and not fixing what is.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
The thing i've found about repairs like this is if you aren't totally sure, find the right shop who knows their stuff and they will point you in the right direction. I would bet if you found the right guy and told him exactly what was happening, he could tell you very likely what the best solution is, rebuild, aftermarket, chinese aftermarket depending on your timeline and usage. I don't know about the final, but in cases like starters, alternators, etc I always go to a specialty electrical place here who rebuilds them, cheaper then OEM and it's all they do, so they know their stuff.

Have you searched for all local places who source aftermarket? Tried asking dealer who would sell aftermarket? Maybe a better option exists.

The whole chinese is garbage thing is just so off base. When I was looking at new mini ex tracks last year you see how places are like "not chinese" and when I started looking into it, no one makes a track in north america. There is not many different places they are made. I went with a off brand and they've held up great and at a much cheaper price.

Alibaba's prices just seem so dang cheap. I've been super curious but never needed the right part where it made sense to try them out. Like why doesn't a local place just order their stuff deal with importing it and they could make a fortune if the stuff is half decent because they would order volume.
 

Birken Vogt

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
5,305
Location
Grass Valley, Ca
We are seeing plenty of problems with starters and alternators from China. I have a customer that is on the third starter for a PC120-5. It was one third the cost with a 30 day warranty and no core. The first two went out in about 35 days. Now they have the cost of the factory starter in the machine. At least they made it past 35 days.

Just a side note. Where are these coming from? Possibly a place headquartered in your corner of the country? Asking for a friend.
 

mclean

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
63
Location
Beautiful Washington
I cant really see a downside to taking it apart?
The downside is the machine doesn't have a final anymore..

I've taken these apart before and am in no hurry to get back in there. Like 80 little pins all lined up on these rolly plates that walk the pins around as they shuffle back n forth in sequence. Not just planetary setup.

I have no doubt the final itself is ok. The motor is the root of issue. It's been leaking for a couple months. Machine is used off and on. But is now at point where it needs to have final over a dish to catch oil incase sits for a while..

bought 2 alibaba finals yesterday. My hunch is our u s suppliers are just Alibaba resellers. Markup seems about right.

Will update when (if they show up?) I've got em on. Keep eye on eBay for PC 75 finals if want to have some fun with a roley pin final.. maybe I'll put a note on the ad that says was told should be easy fix? .

I also agree that in some cases China is an excellent source for things. Still some major issues to watch for too.

Thanks again for everyones input.

Sounds like nobody really sure how many sources for aftermarket finals there are. Maybe just China and the oems? This was my assumption.
 

mclean

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
63
Location
Beautiful Washington
Conclusion.. still not sure.

bought 2x pc75 finals from Alibaba. They we're hard to ignore priced at $600 each with 'free shipping'.

The free shipping was a misprint. Cost an additional 800 to ship from china to Tacoma.

The port fees cost another 1300 to release from customs.

The finals fit well, and look nice. The finals were not exact replicas of the hy dash units it came with. I'm not even sure they have the rolley pins in them? I think may just be planetary setup. They are 2 speed units. They also used sae bps vs metric. So now I have a bunch of adapters to fit the hoses.. another 250.

As long as they last another 3,000 hours will be well worth it. No reason to expect they won't. Will update if one blows up.

Moral of story. The price on Alibaba is about a 1/3 what actual costs will be, once you've got it and it's spinning again.

The people in china were very responsive and not hard to get in contact with at all. Had some bank transfer issues at first which kinda left me un protected for a couple days. They didn't take advantage. Once I got units in and tried to figure out best way to bypass 2 speed port they again were happy to help, even send free parts if needed. They suggested to jump from drain to speed port rather than plugging. Offered to send fittings and hoses if needed. Better than some local customer service..

The big test remains... Will they last? Hope so!IMG_20210720_145852140_HDR.jpg IMG_20210720_145905331_HDR.jpg
 
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