How fecking hard??!

[Kitch]

All I want is a nearside track rod end for the red one! You'd think it would be easy!

Speak to local factors.....yes we can get one. £4.00. Great!! I'll have that.

Arrives.....offside one in nearside box. Ring factors back....."sorry that was the last one."

No one else locally can get one. Then try ECP, and they CAN! Order a nearside TRE.

Arrives.....offside one in nearside box. Ring ECP back....."sorry, I'll order one of each side for tomorrow. Should win either way then." Ok I think.

Today, ECP arrive......offside one in offside box, and offside one in nearside box!!






Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!! It's stuck on the bloody ramp....has been for 3 days!

[BX Bandit]

It's strange that, cos GSF were doing exactly the same. I knew to order a n/s if I wanted an o/s!
AEP in scotland are good mate and they sell genuine parts. Only thing is £7.50 delivery but I add some service items on to get it over £50 and then it's free delivery.
BTW, the ones from GSF were approx 3-4mm longer than the originals, so the tracking was way off. Have a compare before you wack it on just in case!

[Kitch]

Well it gets better - ECP have over 100 of these at their Wembley main depot.......and every single one is boxed wrong!

Luckily I ordered a cheap one on eBay yesterday, so with a bit of luck that'll arrive tomorrow so I can get the bastard back together again!

I had Lemforder ones (normally a good brand) on it until now, and couldn't get the tracking right. Even fully wound in it was still toeing in.
Checked against the new £4.00 unit yesterday....Lemforder ones were 5-6mm too long

Hopefully torque steer will be a thing of the past now

Whole saga has had me questioning my sanity though! If this cheap eBay jobbie comes good, I'll be a stock of them for the future!

[docchevron]

I found the same. Lemforder ones were 6MM too long. I chopped them down with a grinder, but got some Firstline ones, and they were spot on, and have bigger more manly balljoints in them..
They were also half the cost of lemforder.. go figure.

It's rather annoying when the wrong bits arrive in the right box though..

[Kitch]

Never guess what....in one of the earlier calls to ECP, I suggested they order in a bundle of the track rod ends in the hope one was right.

Well, they did! At 3:25am Jack from ECP Portsmouth rang to say three had arrived, he'd opened them up and ONE IS DIFFERENT!!!!
I said get it down here! He did, 20 mins later.

SUCCESS!! I have track rod ends again, and hopefully as of tomorrow, an MOT!

[Vanny]

SUCCESS!! I have track rod ends again, and hopefully as of tomorrow, an MOT!

I got my MOT today

[Tim Leech]

Well done !

[Kitch]

I have an MOT. Tracking is so far out it handles like a Wilderbeast, but it's MOT'd!

Next month......tax.

[Vanny]

I've rather cleverly arranged so they all renew at the same time (Tax, MOT, insurance). Stupid bloody thing to do!

[bravo-x-ray]

Two or is it three of my fleet tax as the same month since I left the wife to tax the cars, Jaguar was october tax, BX april tax, wift put 6 months on jaguar as it was cheaper historically the MR2 used to be an april tax as well but I've been away so much of the time I've decided to keep it sorned till next month at least to try and disperse them. I usually try and have my MOT's scheduled before my tax runs out as with 5+ cars in the fleet at any one time, a two or three car drive way I need to keep at least one on the street and one in the workshop at any one time

[Tinkley]

Hope your track rod jobbie is a success. Had an interesting experience from Ebay. Ordered 'NEW' o/s driveshaft - turns up as remanufactured and knackered new intermediate bearing. It's going back!. The guy is still offering a 'NEW' nearside one. Note in the photo the Euroshaft blue/yellow box. It is a remanufactured unit with new boots etc.
I got new boots from GSF so might as well refurb existing unit (boot by intermediate bearing gone).
The engine/transmission coming out anyway. Some good bargains on Ebay, like a new fuel pump 1.50 etc but you do have to be a bit careful.
Suppose I should be grateful they didn't send the nearside drive shaft!!!

[Kitch]

Track rod ends were brilliant - NOS Motaquip units, which will be the same as the genuine manufacturer being that Motaquip is PSA owned.

[citsncycles]

Just don't trust Motaquip electrical bits. I put a set of their points in the GS and had to keep adjusting them as the plastic foot that ran on the cam was too soft. I now have a stock of valeo ones which give no trouble at all.