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Alternatives to LMC?

datmony

datmony

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Duvall, WA
Would love to hear if there are any good alternatives out there to LMC. Every time I deal with them I just get annoyed. They have a lot of great stuff but just have this overwhelming ability to irk me every time I talk with them. I would like a place with their selection but that are just frankly, not them. :)

Thanks in advance.
 
Depends on what you're looking for, Goodmark (and parent company who's name escapes me) makes nice sheetmetal, I buy AC Delco sensors from Amazon (did Rock Auto before I got Prime though) as well as other bits. It's nice to be able to read customer reviews before buying and Amazon has damn near everything these days
 
All for a '91 K5 Jimmy:

Full rubber flooring kit
All new Steering linkages, tierod, drag link, etc
Brake pedal rubber
Body mount kit (rubber not poly)
Bumpstops
Sway bar bushings
Steering box
Front turn signals
top braces for the radiator
steering stabilizer
Battery hold down

I like the ability of just placing one big order and being done with it. I was hoping that Summit had most everything but no luck there.

I have already ordered all the ORD shackles/bushings and their rear shock brace, alcan replacement stock springs, bilsteins, Corbeau heated/lumbared seats with mounts, dynamat for the whole interior, speakers other than sub.

Once all the steering is in, suspension replaced, etc it will be getting a new set of wheels and some 285/70/r17 Wrangler Duratracs. I don't really want to put the tires on though until I replace everything else steering and suspension wise. It will basically get all that installed, throw on the tires and wheels at the local discount tire and then take it next door to the alignment shop. Should really spruce this thing up. Already drives very nice considering it is a 26-27 year old vehicle with 1973 tech other than the TBI.

Going to be a very simple, non-lifted truck for winter time mountain driving and my daily commute. Eventually will see a winch and bumpers and perhaps selectable lockers but for now, focusing on basic driveability. Keeping my eye out for a cheap 700R4 and another 5.7 to bench build and have sitting around for that eventual day that it is time to replace those.
 
Look at Brothers Trucks. When we restored the 59 Apache at our shop I could have ordered most if not all of what I needed from LMC. After comparing prices (which is close) I ended up ordering 90% of what we needed through Brothers If you aren't in a rush, they have some great sales that bring the price down and reduced rate or free shipping. I ordered two doors and a bunch of patch panels for sheetmetal. The doors came packaged each in their own crate and then strapped to sit vertically on another pallet. It guaranteed the doors would not get dinged in shipping.

Brothers has most of the same trim and detail parts that LMC does. They just don't have a lot of suspension stuff. But you can get that stuff through Rock auto if you need it. Customer service was pretty good too. In orders as big as I did on the Apache (close to $10,000) a couple of things came in wrong. I called once I figured it out (like sending a right side patch panel instead of a left) and they shipped another one out right away. Told us to keep the wrong one as shipping would exceed the cost of the part. They were pretty savvy on stuff too. They didn't sell a rear license plate bracket for the chrome rear bumper for a 59, but did for a 60. I called to ask if the 60 bracket would work on the 59 bumper and the guy told me, hang on I'll go out into the warehouse and mock it up. He came back to the phone and said it would fit even though it was slightly different than the 59 version. He also said outside of the biggest Chevy truck nerd not many would know it's the wrong one. I thought that was awesome.

They are pretty good in my book. I've ordered LMC for my own stuff and a few things for the Apache that Brothers didn't have. I really haven't had a major issue, but I make sure I have a few things to get since they tend to nail you on shipping charges.
 
You can still find some new/unused AC Delco parts for our square-body trucks on eBay. I try to search for parts on a routine basis and have had decent luck although it may take some time to find what you're looking for. I recently bought a new AC Delco rear window cable and speedometer cable for my '86 K5.
 
I've used gmcpauls.com for seals and a couple patch panels. They came in in good shape and fit perfect.
 
I have had good luck so far with gmcpauls.
 
The problem with LMC is that a lot of their stuff is Taiwan junk. They do carry a lot of items though and numerous things were sourced from them when I restored my K5. A few items I ordered I either sent back or simply through in the garbage after opening the packaging.

I'm not a big fan of brothers at all. Their reproduction dashes suck. At least mine does. Doesn't fit worth a crap.

Classic parts is pretty good. Good selection of NOS stuff from them and good quality. I have zero complaints with them other than a smaller selection compared to LMC, but that might be partly that they won't bring in cheap junk like LMC will. If/when I do another GM restoration I will get as much as I can from Classic Parts and in fact I need to check their site to see if they still carry NOS dashes to replace my POS Brothers dash.

Teck is another guy on here, if he still lurks, that was/is a pro on coming up with NOS. He was meticulous with his restoration and I think nearly everything of his was NOS. Without a doubt, go NOS if you can find it and afford it. NOS stuff is probably slowly but surely drying up though too as time goes on. It was like 5 years ago when I did my restoration.
 
Thanks. Some of the things I am looking for just frankly won't be worth a darn in NOS as most are rubber pieces. Flooring, body mounts, bumpstops, etc Even if the rubber was still around it just would be degraded.

Thank you none the less for all of the good thoughts here, it gives me some alternate options. A few things are thankfully starting to trickle in. All of the ORD stuff is here, original factory wiring diagram, shocks, and seats are all here (brackets are completely wrong but that is a fight for another day).
 
It seems pretty likely that if it's coming out of Taiwan (or at the time I ordered, Thailand) it's the same stuff, whoever has their name on the box.

If someone like Classic sells it, I'd probably lean that way if NOS is not available. Be sure that GM isn't still selling it though. Every once in awhile you'll be surprised that a part number is still good.

At this link you'll be able to download the parts and illustration manuals, which are invaluable if trying to look up parts: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showpost.php?p=5621043&postcount=1

Prepare to be disappointed generally, but as I said, every once in awhile, parts will still be available.
 
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