Good Ranger parts sources?

[franklin2]

Tariffs will help fight the China monopoly. But it will not help prices, Americans don't work for peanuts like Chinese people do.

Let's see how long it takes for this thread to spiral out of control

 

[bobbywalter]

can't work for peanuts.


well....I work for peanuts.....just have to run 70 to 110 a week.

 

[sgtsandman]

Tariffs will help fight the China monopoly. But it will not help prices, Americans don't work for peanuts like Chinese people do.

Let's see how long it takes for this thread to spiral out of control

Oh we work for peanuts, we just don't realize it. Look what the dollar buys now compared to when we still had the gold and silver standard. The dollar has lost something like 90% of it's value.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

I prefer working for pistachios.

 

[sgtsandman]

I prefer working for pistachios.

They might be worth more.

 

[GearheadGrrrl]

Just turning 75 gives me a bit of perspective...

Day after graduating in 1968 put in a bunch of job applications, next day I had three good job offers. Cashed two cars in a month at a dealership, was fired but after a couple weeks goofing off got another job, stayed there a year, then decided not to go to work anymore. After a couple months recreating got a better job, stayed there a year, quit, goofed off, then college which gave me a part time job. In 1977 took a 6 month Tech College course in truck driving and was hired by a Fortune 500 company and stayed their 14 years, been collecting pension from that job for 17 years now. 1992 got laid off, took four years to get a decent full time job and stayed there 10 years then took early retirement.

Fact is us boomers mostly had it easy, grew up to a good jobs market and college tuition was cheap. Worked in a Mercury dealer in 69-70 and even at the low end of the pay scale could have easily bought a new car, finally bought a new VW diesel in '79 and easily paid it off. Had to finance again to get a rebate in 2017 and barely qualified at 11% interest, today I'd probably be turned down for a loan but can pay cash. Back in the 60s we drove cars less than 10 years old and they were less than $100 cheap, today the average car age is 12 years and while the 2nd gen Rangers are 15 and more years old, yet we're keeping them alive while new Ranger sales can't even keep one assembly plant half busy.

So yes, the economy has changed and not for the better.

 

[JohnnyO]

Does anybody know anything about 1a auto? They have a great motto, but I’m not sure if it’s true or not. They are supposed to be a high quality parts brand and their motto being “Not all parts are created equal.”

I got a replacement electric side mirror from them for my old Sport Trac. No issues, good instructions.

 

[Rick W]

AutoZone and advance are both good sources here in Atlanta. Napa is pricey, but I’m just a mile and a half from the regional warehouse in Atlanta, which seems to always have everything in stock if you can handle the price.

Online, I pray to rock auto as well. The comment above on the warehouses is very important. As you check things into your cart, you can look at the cart summary, and sort of right in the middle is a little winged truck that will have an A, B, or C or whatever on it. That is the warehouse. If I’m buying multiple things, I put the big ones in first, and then on the smaller things, I may add in different brands of the same thing. Then you can go to the cart, see what warehouse the big things are coming from, and start deleting doubles of smaller things that are coming from different warehouses. If you play back-and-forth just a few minutes, you can usually cut out 30 or $40 in shipping on a big order, where big is the number of items, not necessarily the dollar amount.

I only use them occasionally, but I also have bought from Ford Parts Giant. They’re worth a look.

I’m not relying on my trucks for business or for my job, they’re toys since I’m retired. I’m not afraid of offbrand things. I always find eBay to be much more user-friendly and cheaper than the other online options. Out of hundreds of things I’ve bought, I’ve only had four or five complaints, which always got taken care of, and I only got burned once, but that was probably because I delayed making a claim because I was sick.

My two cents, I hope it helps