15 Year old shocks!

[dasbulliwagen]

I'm working on a 1991 XJ today and found one of the rear shocks had broken a bolt for its upper mount. So I advised the customer they needed new shocks, and have the broken bolt drilled out. They bought the repair and new OEM shocks. The parts dept brought the shocks out to my bay, and the boxes look really old. I looked at the date on the order sticker on the bax, and my dealer ordered these shocks in April of 1994. These shocks have been sitting in this parts dept for 15 years! They seem like they work OK. And with Mopar parts there is a 12 month, 12000 mile parts warranty, So I guess if they go bad anytime soon, the customer will just have to come back.

[ComancheKid45]

In a way thats kinda cool

[Falder]

That kinda surprises me thou. You think other current model trucks might use the same shocks. Manufacturers try and keep everything simple but I guess they didn't there.

[BLHTAZ]

I have seen that a few times working in the parts department. At our dealership, we went through obsolescence every 12 months and anything that was 10 months or older was removed and returned or simply thrown out. All dealerships are supposed to do this to avoid anything like that happening, but somehow there are things that slip through the cracks.

[phenryiv1]

I can beat that:

 

My father has a 1975 Datsun 280Z that he has owned since brand new. It just turned 40,000 miles. Last Christmas, I went on a quest to find him new front bumper end caps, so I called my buddy at a Nissan dealership in Texas, who went to the old scanned microfische files that he has. He pulled the part number and ran a national search and found an endcap in Massachussetts. I called that dealership and they pulled the box off of the shelf. It was ordered in 1984 for a customer who never picked it up. The part was last manufactured in 1979-80, and this was the LAST NOS driver's side front bumper endcap in the US.

 

Because they had nothing else to go on, they sold it to me for the price it was back when it was ordered in 1984.

 

:cheers:

[88XJSport]

I'm working on a 1991 XJ today and found one of the rear shocks had broken a bolt for its upper mount. So I advised the customer they needed new shocks, and have the broken bolt drilled out. They bought the repair and new OEM shocks. The parts dept brought the shocks out to my bay, and the boxes look really old. I looked at the date on the order sticker on the bax, and my dealer ordered these shocks in April of 1994. These shocks have been sitting in this parts dept for 15 years! They seem like they work OK. And with Mopar parts there is a 12 month, 12000 mile parts warranty, So I guess if they go bad anytime soon, the customer will just have to come back.

 

Thats how repair shops work. They will even put on stale parts just to have the customer come back for new parts. Even if the repair is free, its still a hassle to the owner.

[87Warrior]

I think my MJ had 17 year old shock, or something close, still on it when I bought it! The crazy thing is they still had 'some' resistance. Made in USA was stamped on 'em.

 

[Eagle]

Those look like the rear shocks on my 88 4-cyl MJ.