profdant139 wrote:
I just got one of these little fixtures:
Click For Full-Size Image.
I was surprised that the lugs, those nubs that slip into the bayonet fitting, were out of spec -- just a fraction of a millimeter too fat. The lugs on all my other sewer hardware (Valterra and Rhino) fit just fine into the various bayonet items that I own. But the Camco didn't.
I took a calipers (caliper singular??) and measured the lugs -- sure enough, the Camcos were wider than all of the others.
Fortunately, the fix was easy -- I used a flat file to reduce the circumference of the four lugs. It took about a half hour of filing, and trying the fit, and filing some more. Eventually, it worked just fine.
But here are my questions (and you knew they were coming) -- aren't these items designed and manufactured to be interchangeable? Isn't anyone in China (where this was made) in charge of quality control? Don't they test these items out before they are mass-produced?
This is emphatically NOT a China rant -- whether we like it or not, they are the world's manufacturer for the foreseeable future. Instead, this is about the company's puzzling failure to act in its own self-interest -- isn't it cheaper to do it right the first time, rather than to wait for a wave of consumer complaints?? This is not rocket science.
i ran into a similar problem a few months back. i wanted to replace the left-hand threaded wheel studs on my '46 Willys with right-hand studs. i found them at a parts supply company listed for my vehicle so i ordered 10. when they arrived they would not fit.. .they were too short and too fat. i contacted the company and reported the problem but their response was that i had the correct parts. even photographs of micrometer measurements of the old and new studs were rejected. they did accept the return for refund but it was a strange experience. my shop did find the correct RH studs at a local wholesale auto parts warehouse.
