Forum Discussion

mexicanpiloto13's avatar
mexicanpiloto13
Explorer III
Sep 12, 2021

RV parts shortages

I had a part expert at Cummins tell me the other day at the reason there are so few RV parts available is because of covid and a shortage of shipping containers. I spent all day last week trying to find a couple of parts for our Monaco dynasty Cummins engine that was having trouble starting I called Cummins in Fort Worth looking for a fuel cut off solenoid. He had no idea what part number it was. said he couldn't even order it unless I knew the number. Fortunately I had a receipt years ago from when I got replaced it from Cummins in Salt Lake City. I gave him the part number. he said there were no more of them in the United States but only one in Belgium and it would take weeks to get. then I call Cummins in Arizona, where we have our rig serviced and he said sure we have him here and I see them at a lot of places around the country so the 1st problem is with the databases that these companies used to search for parts. Other problem is knowing who put the part on. I tried to get a solonoid for the starter for our engine. Cummins said they had no idea who put it on, Even though it had a Cummins label on it. I crawled under the rig got a bunch of numbers off the starter and solonoid and came to find out that it was made for Cunningham by Delco Ramey, and the part number had been changed. I tried to order a part through freightliner and he said there is none in the United States that have to get it from the factory I said can they overnight it? He said they don't overnight out headquarters So I ended up just cleaning the solenoid contacts. Everyone has their own stories but parts on older coaches. Ours is 1998, are tough.
  • jodeb720's avatar
    jodeb720
    Explorer
    Sep 15, 2021
    My former neighbor from LA (who was a longshoreman - he just passed) as telling me last month that there is an acute shortage of people willing to work on the docks. They make bank (like 120k annually working on the docs).

    He was telling me last month that the owners of the docks were offering cash incentives to work triple shifts just to clear out the back log of ships, sitting offshore of Long Beach, CA.

    Doug is spot on with the inability to move the containers off the ships and onto either rail or truck.

    Oh that's another story. The trucking industry is also struggling to find drivers. Many of the young people who are thinking of going into the business see automation replacing drivers in the future, and don't want to get into an industry where automation will replace them in the future.
  • ferndaleflyer's avatar
    ferndaleflyer
    Explorer III
    Sep 14, 2021
    Well after 1 day looking I have found one outfit that claims to have my heater core. $276.00. Monaco part number is E56407 and all suggestions will be considered.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Sep 14, 2021
    Odds are you can find a hundred or more here in teh USA under a different name and number Two true stories.
    Car I had was made with an expermental part. The part was good but had one issue that was easily fixed. The standard part was also good. for about a day (Ouch) I got real good at replacing it.

    Finally I got to a warehouseman who knew where the good one came from and they pointed me to a DIFFERENT make of car that used the exact same part. I mean the very same part.. Two of them later and a bit of machinging on one and it lasted for years.

    My RV microwave (A Dometic made by LG) LG products let's just say I've never been happy with 'em... I replaced one part with the same part but from GE.. Two very tiny differences.. worked for 16 years.
  • ferndaleflyer's avatar
    ferndaleflyer
    Explorer III
    Sep 14, 2021
    getting ready to hunt down a heater core for my Monaco Windsor, 1998. Best one I have encountered is the step motor. $300+ at dealer and $45 from Auto Zone. And its like that for everything. If you can find out who made it you can usually find it and usually cheaper.
  • mexicanpiloto13's avatar
    mexicanpiloto13
    Explorer III
    Sep 13, 2021
    I just found out this morning that Delco Remy has a great website and you can search for any part by number and it was able to give me Revised part numbers, whether they're available or not and if it's obsolete it suggests replacement starters for the cummina engine. Even better there's a number you can call for technical assistance and the guy I talked with was whiz. he said rather than trying to find that old part, I can upgrade to a new starter with solenoid that only weighs 35 pounds instead of the 65 pound part that's in there now and it's covered by a 3 year warranty I called freightliner and they had 5 of those on the shelf in Springfield Missouri. part number 8200433. This replaces the old clunker starter on my 6C 8.3 cummins engine and now has a warranty. Cost about $370 for the whole unit.
  • schlep1967's avatar
    schlep1967
    Nomad
    Sep 13, 2021
    There is also the lack of common sense that we have to deal with. I had a bad valve on my new whirlpool dishwasher. The repair guy was told there are no replacements available. He was talking to Whirlpool and I told him to ask if they are still making dishwashers. They said they were. I said tell them to ask the assembly line guys to go pick one out of the 1,000 piece bin on the line and send it to me. Had it in two days.

    Everybody believes the easy answer the computer provides.
  • S_Davis's avatar
    S_Davis
    Explorer
    Sep 12, 2021
    The other issue can be the OEM(or assembler of said RV, car)part has a different part number from the manufacturer and a lot of the time it is easier to go directly to the manufacturer part number. I just had a customer go five weeks with no heat or hot water because Bradford White didn’t have the parts to make the heater and it was a warranty replacement that had to use the exact same unit, I can get heat pump and A/C units but the line sets to connect them are weeks to months out.
  • Tal_IL's avatar
    Tal_IL
    Explorer
    Sep 12, 2021
    Many dealerships just don't look outside their normal channels. I was Emergency Purchasing Agent for a large mid-west heavy duty truck group that traded on exceptional customer service. My job was to expedite hard to get service parts. Our service manager would occasionally pop into my office to tell me one of his good customers was stranded in another state at a dealership that told the customer his needed part wasn't available. Usually, I could find it someplace and still get it shipped out of the warehouse next-day-air, often from the west coast. My service guy loved to phone the service manager where our customer was stranded and tell him the part he couldn't get was being drop-shipped to him and would be there the next morning.
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Sep 12, 2021
    No shortage of Intermodal Shipping containers. What there IS a shortage of is the Manufacture of the items that GO INTO the containers and the Off loading of containers at the various USA ports. Most Intermodal Shipping containers are Rail freighted from the USA ports. Very few are trucked and there is a shortage of Longshoreman facilities to get the few containers off loaded and there is a shortage of Trains and crews to rail transport across the country. Once they get to the Various Intermodal rail yards in the USA, they are then trucked to final destination. Doug
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Sep 12, 2021
    I was having problems in 2009 getting parts for a 1987 E-450 diesel. It can only be worse now.

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