So looking at rockauto.com and the tie rod ends they list for my 67 skylark and I see some choices. Moog inner $17.45 Moog outer $32.79 Raybestos (service quality) inner $9.44 Raybestos (service quality) outer $15.41 Raybestos (pro quality) Inner $20.79 Raybestos (pro quality) outer $37.49 So what the heck is Service as compared to professional quality? Are the pro quality really twice as good to go with their twice as spendy? They all show having zerk fittings, so????? Are there preferred brands on these, or is Adelco ok too? Thanks for opinions Jon
The difference in quality is based around the rubber bits and the factory finish. Usually the service ones are fine for a regular car but they have cheaper rubber bits and an unfinished surface which look bad on a high-end car. The pro version uses a better quality rubber and has a smoother finish. Also the service ones may not come with new hardware and the pro ones usually do. With that said, I always get the moog stuff when it comes to steering and suspension bits.
I recently bought Raybestos Service Grades for my Skylark. The quality seems nice, better than what I had on there for sure. One of the boots sprung a leak, but that is probably because I pumped too much grease in it. Finish on the inners was black paint, outers were unfinished. Or maybe they had cast iron colored paint, I didn't look too closely. So plan on painting them if you don't like rust/mismatched colors. BUT!!! There is a problem.:af: :af: :af: :af: They are not really Skylark/GS parts. They are Astrovan/S10 parts. You know how I know?? Metric hardware .
I recently did a Moog inner tie rod on my 67 GS400. Be aware, the grease fitting is in a different place, it points to the rear of the car, it's on the backside. it's hard to grease now, you need a 90 degree fitting to grease it. Originals were on the end of the rod and very easy to grease. I don't know if anybody makes them like that now.
I just purchased a whole front end of raybestos prof. grade nothing yet installed but just about everything is stamped made in the usa which i don't believe the service grade is though i could be wrong. the parts look and feel like very high quality pieces. as for performance, I used raybestos bushings to replace the rear upper and lower control arm bushings. they feel great and handle real nice,But i also added a sway bar so a one for one comparison is impossible. here is a price list and numbers for the parts for my 68 out of midwest auto parts. they took about 2 weeks to get me my parts and i was not happy with a couple parts that got mixed up in my order but they immediately sent out what i needed and a ups label to return the parts i didn't like overall very happy with them and cheaper than rock auto more info about them on the thread below http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=238126&highlight=midwest+auto+parts
Raybestos' parent company also owns McQuay-Norris (USA made suspension components). The prof grade is made-in or assembled-in USA. The service grade is "globally sourced" parts - read made in china. Moog will be made in USA or mexico.
Did use Raybestos prof. grade along with a 1969 front end package from Ground Up Restoration (yeah I know, bowtie stuff) and had only 1 minor problem. The sleeves for the tie rod ends (RockAuto) were not the correct diameter for the 64-70 tie rods. Cleaned up the 42 year old ones and all was fine.
