Oreilly parts supplier fail

Joined
Sep 30, 2013
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Indiana
TL;DR: On parts with critical dimensions such as u joints, go in with a pair of calipers.

My Blazer needed rear u joints quickly so rather than doing what I normally do and go to Rock Auto, I bought from a parts store. There’s 2 options available. (1.125” cap diameter and 1.188” cap diameter) I didn’t know what I needed at the time so I bought 2 of each. Mine takes the 1.125” btw.

I installed the first one at the t case issue free. The second one went in fine onto the driveshaft, but was too small at the axle. 2 caps were smaller than the needed 1.125” and I noticed these didn’t have groove in them for the snap ring. No big deal.. I should have looked them over before buying too. My bad. My lovely wife was helping me and it was 8:30 so we stopped for the night. I went to an Oreilly closest to my house next morning to return the 2 larger ones I didn’t need and exchange the wrong part. He looked it up and pulled it from the shelf and it was the larger part in a box with the part number for the smaller part. He found a different line and pulled it.. same issue. Took 3 tries to find a part that was correct. Ouch.

The employees at both stores were great and did all the leg work for me. Very eager to help too. Really makes the case for going in with a pair of calipers on things like this though. When I was in the orthopedic manufacturing world, we would call this a co mingle and suppliers can get into big (contract ending) trouble for this. Nobody wants an order of 50 32mm shoulders with a 30mm hidden in the mix. Ouch.
 
Same issue could've happened with Rock Auto, but then you would be dealing with quite a delay & (possibly) dealing with shipping costs due to RA's poor return policies (haggling anyway). There is a big appeal to seeing the parts before I buy.
Yes and no. I believe these are made and/ or distributed by whoever Oreilly uses for their house brand. Ozark something I think.
 
"Ozark something" is Ozark Automotive Distributers, an O'reilly sister distributing company. They don't manufacture anything. They do contract out all of their parts requirements and consolidate the distribution under this company name.
 
"Ozark something" is Ozark Automotive Distributers, an O'reilly sister distributing company. They don't manufacture anything. They do contract out all of their parts requirements and consolidate the distribution under this company name.
Yes. Hence why my title says supplier as opposed to manufacturer.
 
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