Showerthought: Should we really trust those cheap hydraulic oil filters from online?

I bought a 10 pack of hydraulic oil filters for our MRL lifts off some site last month for like 60 bucks. Seemed like a good deal since the local supplier wanted 18 each. First three months they worked fine, but then one blew a seal on a job in a 12 story building downtown. Had to call a buddy to bring a spare while I sat waiting 45 minutes losing billable time. The customer saw the delay and chewed me out over their lunch break schedule. Now I'm wondering if it's worth saving 120 bucks upfront just to risk that kind of headache. Anyone else had cheap parts crap out on you in a pinch?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher40221d ago

Yeah I get the frustration but honestly that sounds more like bad luck than bad parts. If the first three months were fine could've been a manufacturing defect in that one filter, happens with name brand stuff too.

paule5321d ago

Oh come on @christopher402, you REALLY think a filter failing at 3 months is just bad luck? I've had name brand ones go 6 months easy in hard water areas. The thing that bugs me is the inconsistency - if it's a defect, why didn't it show up sooner? Like a bad O-ring or something would cause a leak from day one, not a gradual decline. Makes me wonder if the company uses DIFFERENT suppliers for different batches and one batch just happened to be garbage. Have you ever had a name brand filter fail that fast or are you just assuming?