Thread: Keep Your Money Local - Support Our Local Business

Originally Posted by S3ute

Hello from Brisbane.

For the job that I’m presently doing on my truck I need several sizes of BSF bolts and nuts. None of the dwindling local sources of Land Rover parts had them or knew where to try.

So, by process of elimination last week I found myself phoning a specialist parts outlet in Melbourne - can’t see the point in naming names. Told the nice lady that I was after a couple of items listed on their website but wanted to check on availability, price and delivery charges. After several unsuccessful attempts to identify their own web site pages and/or check if they knew what are fairly common parts on a Series Land Rover I was put on to the “Boss”. Do you know the part numbers? No, but they are X, Y and Z in the front axle page of your website. No good without the part numbers mate - ok, can I email them to you? Better do that - so, I did and no response.

Were there a viable alternative - tried all the specialist bolt suppliers around the place - I might have walked away rather than phoning back again today. Incidentally, enjoyed much the same performance from an Adelaide based bolt supplier when chasing two bolts that the Melbourne place reckoned I should try a hardware store for.

Neil,

One of the local bolt places claims they can get BSF but......you have to buy the box quantity which could be 100 or 200. Virtually nil demand so they don't want to get stuck with them. Strangely they could supply BSF recoil kits.
Had a similar problem tracking down some tiny BA grub screws for a model steam engine. Listed on the website of a company in the City, visited and they didn't have them.
UNF is heading the same way, try and get a UNF CSK screw with a slotted head.
In the UK I got all my Cycle Thread, BSF etc from here Namrick Ltd
Could be worth trying when they re-open.

As to the level of service you experienced.....the company I work for have a Counter Sales and dealing with the unwashed public can be incredibly time consuming for little, if any, reward. There is certainly no profit in it. As I'm in Sales I take the approach that if you go out of your way to help this chap you don't know who he might pass our details on to and it could lead to more business, not everyone thinks the same way.

What bolts in particular are you after ??


Colin

is it just me,, or just how many parts can be missing from a shock absorber?
closed and open lengths, eyes and pins.. its not exactly a space shuttle...

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

is it just me,, or just how many parts can be missing from a shock absorber?
closed and open lengths, eyes and pins.. its not exactly a space shuttle...

In this case I suspect not

Originally Posted by gromit

Neil,

One of the local bolt places claims they can get BSF but......you have to buy the box quantity which could be 100 or 200. Virtually nil demand so they don't want to get stuck with them. Strangely they could supply BSF recoil kits.
Had a similar problem tracking down some tiny BA grub screws for a model steam engine. Listed on the website of a company in the City, visited and they didn't have them.
UNF is heading the same way, try and get a UNF CSK screw with a slotted head.
In the UK I got all my Cycle Thread, BSF etc from here Namrick Ltd
Could be worth trying when they re-open.

As to the level of service you experienced.....the company I work for have a Counter Sales and dealing with the unwashed public can be incredibly time consuming for little, if any, reward. There is certainly no profit in it. As I'm in Sales I take the approach that if you go out of your way to help this chap you don't know who he might pass our details on to and it could lead to more business, not everyone thinks the same way.

What bolts in particular are you after ??


Colin

Few staff in bolt shops were born when BSW, BSF, BSC, BA were in common use. Try them on Admiralty Fine and see the blank looks. I sold taps and dies for all these except BA (not enough demand). I got BSF & BSC made in the USA by Michigan Drill via their New Jersey branch. High quality and affordable. I had to buy 50 of each. I never sold the fasteners. Too many variations in head, length, length of thread. A warehousing nightmare for a small trader. Best left to the professional bolt sellers who naturally did not stock low demand items. My business was machine shop supplies, repairers, restorers, hobby engineers tools. The only demand for BA is in repairs to old British electrical equipment or instrumentation. BSF was once used on old pommie cars and went out of use progressively after 1950. BSC was used on pommie bicycles and motor cycles and has virtually vanished from use. Only interest is from restorers. Jaycar stock a few sizes of brass BA screws.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

Few staff in bolt shops were born when BSW, BSF, BSC, BA were in common use. Try them on Admiralty Fine and see the blank looks. I sold taps and dies for all these except BA (not enough demand). I got BSF & BSC made in the USA by Michigan Drill via their New Jersey branch. High quality and affordable. I had to buy 50 of each. I never sold the fasteners. Too many variations in head, length, length of thread. A warehousing nightmare for a small trader. Best left to the professional bolt sellers who naturally did not stock low demand items. My business was machine shop supplies, repairers, restorers, hobby engineers tools. The only demand for BA is in repairs to old British electrical equipment or instrumentation. BSF was once used on old pommie cars and went out of use progressively after 1950. BSC was used on pommie bicycles and motor cycles and has virtually vanished from use. Only interest is from restorers. Jaycar stock a few sizes of brass BA screws.

As soon as demand drops off it's not economical so only a supplier like yourself can support the diminishing demand.

The company Namrick in the link I posted earlier supply Cycle Thread, BA, BSF nuts, bolts etc., problem is that they are the wrong side of the World.
Tracy Tools used to be good for taps & dies but I haven't visited their site for years.

I can get BSF bolts etc. from India, sheradised but I have to buy by the Kg each item. I may persue this further but storage at home is difficult as it is.

Colin

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

is it just me,, or just how many parts can be missing from a shock absorber?
closed and open lengths, eyes and pins.. its not exactly a space shuttle...

Hello Pedro,

I originally brought in an example of the front and rear shock absorber off the 2A. Each had eyelet ends top and bottom. One set of shocks that arrived had an eyelet on top and a threaded rod on the bottom.

The sales bloke was at his desk and was on the phone when I came to the counter. So I placed the example off my Land Rover down next to the new shock absorber. When the bloke got off the phone I said, "Hello. let's play spot the difference! One fits my Land Rover and one does not."

Plus I repeated my mantra... That shock absorber is off a Series 2A made in 1970 it is a Short Wheel Base or it is 88 inches long...

He said - "Oh - let me go back to the parts book".

Obviously the parts book has words and numbers - not pictures. So there is no visual check associated with the part. Then they could see straight away what the numbered part looks like in real life.

By Thursday next week I should find out if Round 2 is successful. I must admit that they got my order 50 percent correct. The front shock absorbers actually fit!

Kind regards
Lionel

Hello All,

Regarding the shock absorbers, I actually went to the company who sells the brand of shock absorber that was fitted to my 2A Shortie. They are the sole authorised agent for that brand. I did not take in a shock absorber from a different manufacturer to them. This means that they did not have to go to any of those nasty comparison tables.

I originally made that mistake... I did take the shock absorbers to another manufacturer's outlet. They were the ones who asked me what sized bushes there were. It turns out that their equivalent shock absorber was considerably dearer than the shock absorbers' original authorised agent.

Kind regards
Lionel

Grab your popcorn (Aussie made, I trust.) and if you study and think about this graph, you'll start to understand the damage we've inflicted upon ourselves by chasing the cheapest - which means offshore / CHINA manufacturing, contributing to the destruction of our own.
Yes, i know it's the US scene, yet we can identify the trends - circulation starts to go down at the start of every downturn...and our behaviour down here isn't so different to theirs so a similar plot of Aussie money would look similar in shape.
When our own money is circulating INside the country, it builds and supports 'everyone'. The more it circles, the more value it is. Another reason I lament the strangulation of Australian made products.

Velocity of M2 Money Stock (M2V) | FRED | St. Louis Fed



And this for a different take on 'lockdown'. - Pre-supposes honesty from both government AND media... the latter a bit of an ask as 'Corona' has been the sexiest news story for decades... one that never stops giving...

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