96 Dakota 4wd. 236k miles. Master cyl went dead. Did pretty good, with this kind of life from the original unit.

Anyways, I went shopping for a replacement. Don't like the idea of reman'ing an aluminum MC, nor do I like the thought of such an important part though available brand new, coming from China.
So, I looked around Ebay, for hopefully a new one from a reputable company// that was made, back when reputable name brands actually meant something.
Among Ebay's used junkyard listings, that wanted more money for a used unit than aforementioned remans or Chinamade new are listed for,,, I found 3 listings, for NOS Mopar to fit my truck.
2 of these were ridiculous, like $228. I did find 1, NOS Mopar, for my truck/ from a company in Texas that I have bought from via Ebay, several times before/ for less than any local parts store wants for a Dorman POS. so, I bought it yesterday. Today, I get 2 Emails. One from Ebay saying "You got a refund". and the other from the seller saying "sorry this unit slipped thru the cracks, had to be removed from inventory due to some legal issue" HUH? Was there a recall on NOS OEM master cylinders, or something else that I don't know about?

 

More likely it was an issue on his end, not with the master itself. Maybe it was a stolen part, or some such, or, he was selling it for someone else, etc. Any part that is still in the system, when it is recalled, is immediately pulled from the shelves. So, a part that old, still being in circulation after it was recalled, is unlikely in the extreme.

 

I ran into this with a guy selling NOS. He was nicer about explaining. He had bought a vehicle new and then because he had the money and some forethought he purchased a lot of parts for it so that he would never have to buy a new one again. He sold some of the parts NOS and keeps back what he thinks he will need. He bailed on the sale because it was the last one he had and he thought he would need it for himself. IDK if that is what your guy was doing but???

 

Unfortunately, Walmart led the way to sourcing off shore. Nearly all American companies followed suit. Before I retired from logistics, I would get a daily digest. The ones dealing with supply chain issues mentioned that companies were starting to come back onshore for supply. Uncle Sam didn't help back in 2017 and 2018 with tariffs. A lot of American companies had metal supplies shut off due to coming from overseas. Currently, nearly everything automotive is made of Chinesium. If it meets specs., no problem. I just buy things local and take it back if there's a problem. I'm not concerned with rebuilt master cylinders as usually, the bore isn't honed but the rubber parts are replaced. Some have steel sleeves and those can be replaced, just not by a home mechanic.

 

No I don't think so. This is a warehouse out of Houston and I have bought from them before. Many times.they are ebay sellers..
look at "spark surplus" on ebay. There's another one in the same area, forget their name but spark surplus and them used to work together, but something happened between them.
Both sell much the same type of stuff.
I have an 85 D150 with a slant six engine that I am redoing. This will become my 3 season daily driver once I get it to where I want. I'll tell more about that one later.
I have bought lots of parts from these 2 sellers including much for the shelf for future needs. New parts but much of what they have is 30&40 years old, back when China wasn't even a question. In fact /the fact that one of these places that I have dealt with in the past and had good service from made it a no brainer to buy from them once I saw who was selling it. Since the refund and story about the "legal issue" in selling me that particular master cylinder,
​​​​I switched gears, and now have a raybestos one coming from rock Auto
Still cheaper than a who knows what brand I'd get from any of the local parts houses. I prefer known name brand parts especially on something so important as brakes.
I've been a pro auto mechanic for a living since the late 80s and have been bitten on no name parts way too many times.