Killer Deal on OEM Inner Tie Rods!

[Unner]

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago I posted in the "What did you do to your 3rd Gen Today?" thread saying I may have found a great deal on inner tie rods for our 3rd Gens. I received my inner tie rod ends this weekend so I feel comfortable posting here about them now.

I ordered my inner tie rod ends from Amayama.com. Basically you put in a part number with them, add items to your cart, request a quote, and then they get back to you within a few days with a quote for shipping the parts to your location.

Using them I was able to get OEM inner tie rods for $65 each, with $34 shipping. So in the end I paid $164 for two brand new Toyota OEM inner tie rods. Considering the 555 brand that is recommended on the forum is something like $95 each plus tax this makes this an awesome deal. You save about $40 and get a better quality part. The cheapest place I found OEM inner tie rod ends was CamelBack Toyota, where they were $125 each, so going through Amayama saves you $85 from the cheapest dealer in the country. You would pay around $350 for these at your local dealer most likely!!!

The time to get your order completed isn't too bad either. Mine took longer because of the "Golden week" in Japan, where they weren't shipping anything. My order just happened to fall in this window.

4/22 - requested quote
4/23 - received quote
4/24 - paid for tie rods and shipping
During this time the parts were bought by Amayama, but weren't able to be shipped out due to them being closed from 4/29-5/6
5/7 - received tracking number saying my package had shipped
5/9 - my package was delivered by USPS, with signature required

It was cheaper for me to order the outer tie rods from CamelBack Toyota along with a few other parts I needed since they do free shipping over $150 and the additional shipping for the outer tie rods was like $30 from Amayama when the savings was only $3 a side. Some parts had significant savings that made it worth it, and others did not.

I didn't think the shipping from Japan was going to be as fast as it was so I kept putting off ordering the outers until now... I'm about to order them from CamelBack and maybe I can get everything installed next weekend along with my TBU that I've had sitting here for a few weeks. And just incase anyone wants photo evidence here's a picture of the OEM inner tie rods I received.



Hopefully this can help out some fellow members save some money while maintaining their rigs. I like to go with OEM on parts like these, and being able to save a pretty significant amount of money when doing so is great. More money for the fun stuff now!

 

[Rock_Rat]

Thanks for the info

These are actually on my to do list.

 

[ElBrio]

I'll be requesting a quote later this week for a few items. Thanks for the info.

 

[nissanh]

NEVER ever 555 products. This is an inferior brand and wear out in less than 10,000 miles

 

[BrianSD_42]

Considering the 555 brand that is recommended on the forum is something like $95 each plus tax this makes this an awesome deal.

My understanding is that there is no such thing as a 555 brand.

OEM is OEM. 555 is meaningless.

555 is just a metal sand casting mark that one of the parts vendors
(sankei-555) originally put on their parts and when it was cloned and reverse engineered they simply copied the shape of the OEM part, including the 555 marking.

Basically 555 doesn't mean anything definitive. Some OEM parts might have it, many fake OEM or aftermarket parts have that marking as well.

If you bought the part from a dealer, any dealer, then you should be fine.

I'm about to order them from CamelBack Toyota Online Parts

THIS. Good move!

 

[StreetCreeper]

Not better than OEM in my opinion, but they do exist as a brand... 555 MADE IN JAPAN | STEERING & SUPENSION PARTS CATALOG

 

[Unner]

These are actually on my to do list.

I'll be requesting a quote later this week for a few items. Thanks for the info.

No problem guys, just trying to help everyone save a little money.

NEVER ever 555 products. This is an inferior brand and wear out in less than 10,000 miles

My understanding is that there is no such thing as a 555 brand.

OEM is OEM. 555 is meaningless.

555 is just a metal sand casting mark that one of the OEM vendors originally put on their parts and when it was cloned and reverse engineered they simply copied the shape of the OEM part, including the 555 marking.

Basically 555 doesn't mean anything definitive. Some OEM parts might have it, many fake OEM or aftermarket parts have that marking as well.

If you bought the part from a dealer, any dealer, then you should be fine.




THIS. Good move!

These are the ones I was referring to when I said 555 brand just for reference.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

BFAD gave them his stamp of approval on his 97, so they can't be that bad, but I would rather have OEM Toyota parts. The ones I have that will be going on my truck are legit Toyota ones and cheaper than any aftermarket ones so I'm good in that department.

I placed my order for the outers last night. To get it up over $150 for the free shipping I added a fuel filter, drain plug gaskets for all the diffs, and a few other small parts.

Not better than OEM in my opinion, but they do exist as a brand... 555 MADE IN JAPAN | STEERING & SUPENSION PARTS CATALOG

Definitely not better if they are more expensive than getting OEM through Amayama!

 

[BrianSD_42]

it's a bit confusing then because the 555 is on aftermarket parts that were cloned as well.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I could not swallow $260 for these as replacements a couple of years ago so I grabbed some Beck Arnleys and they have been doing OK. But I would have grabbed these in a skinny minute for the price.

I wonder if one can order items such as the Field Monitor Unit if one can find the part number for it?

Still loving the grille Unner.......

 

[JayRolla]

Very good deal, It think I easily spent over $100 each on mine.

 

[sawguy]

There are 3 or four oem itre's on ebay right now for $108 and free ship. All from same seller

 

[gamefreakgc]

I think I should add...

I purchased Sankei 555's from Autozone for $30 each (plus $20 off coupon) for a grand total of: $40. Now I'm normally not much of an aftermarket part kind of guy but I know that often Autozone will rebrand DENSO's and other higher quality parts as "Duralast" and sell them real cheap. Turns out they did for inner tie rods (I always ask to see the part).

 

[Unner]

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I could not swallow $260 for these as replacements a couple of years ago so I grabbed some Beck Arnleys and they have been doing OK. But I would have grabbed these in a skinny minute for the price.

I wonder if one can order items such as the Field Monitor Unit if one can find the part number for it?

Still loving the grille Unner.......

Thanks man! I really like the grille too!

Yeah for the price I had to go with OEM. The original ones have 170k and I see no reason I can't get that many out of the new ones.

I think I should add...

I purchased Sankei 555's from Autozone for $30 each (plus $20 off coupon) for a grand total of: $40. Now I'm normally not much of an aftermarket part kind of guy but I know that often Autozone will rebrand DENSO's and other higher quality parts as "Duralast" and sell them real cheap. Turns out they did for inner tie rods (I always ask to see the part).

I wanted to go with OEM too because I had read a few people saying that the aftermarket ones don't allow them to droop all the way whereas the factory ones do. I didn't want to potentially cause any harm to the rack with aftermarket tie rods.

 

[tekzhicuh]

I'll be requesting a quote later this week for a few items.

 

[Unner]

I forgot to answer your other question LittleCaesar. I think you can order anything from them as long as you have the part number and it hasn't been discontinued by Toyota. I know I've tried ordering rare MK3 Supra parts from them, but every time they came back as discontinued, but they would show up if you had the correct part number.

 

[JayRolla]

I think I should add...

I purchased Sankei 555's from Autozone for $30 each (plus $20 off coupon) for a grand total of: $40. Now I'm normally not much of an aftermarket part kind of guy but I know that often Autozone will rebrand DENSO's and other higher quality parts as "Duralast" and sell them real cheap. Turns out they did for inner tie rods (I always ask to see the part).

Denso's from parts store are not OEM denso quality. I have compared the 555, duralast, napa brand ITRE's and none where the same. The major issue is they dont have the same droop angle as any OEM ITRE I have compared too. So when offroading and hitting full droop they overextend causing them to loosen up and or worse pull on the steering rack blowing the seals. IMO if your riding on the road without a lift then yes the aftermarkets will work out. If you have lift and offroad then go OEM. Mine where solid till after my first offroad adventure.

 

[Road Bull]

Thanks again Unner!

I received my new OTREs from Amayama this week. I got the pair for $163.80 shipped to Washington. Shipping was around $30. They shipped fast too! I think it took about a week give or take, maybe less. Now I have all the parts necessary for my pre-lift maintenance. :boxer: Stage two, here I come!

Best deal I found with the help of Unner on OTREs! Whoo Hoo!

 

[Unner]

Glad to help Road Bull. That's the same exact packaging mine came in. Hopefully I get mine installed this weekend after sitting on them for 6 months...

 

[Algiers]

Thanks again for the tip. I finalized my order on Sunday and received them first thing Thursday morning. That's really quick since they came from Osaka, Japan. I'm very pleased with the legit OEM parts and they were packed extremely well.

 

[Unner]

Thanks again for the tip. I finalized my order on Sunday and received them first thing Thursday morning. That's really quick since they came from Osaka, Japan. I'm very pleased with the legit OEM parts and they were packed extremely well.

Glad I could help. That's stupid fast shipping from Japan. That's awesome!