It's starting to happen... No more new parts.

If you read my car audio post, Triathlete brought up a good point. Where in the heck will I put all my stuff for Zu? Right away I contacted Merlin to see about getting the OEM roofrack that I had called about two months ago. His response:

"I'm sorry, but that's been discontinued, along with the rear cargo mat and OEM floor mats".

Plan A. No worries, I thought. I'd have him do a nationwide search for one that's sitting in a parts room somewhere. He came up with two part departments. I called them both (TN & NH), and both said they didn't have the rack, and that the inventory listing was an error.

Plan B. I scoured the internet, and found all places that claimed to sell the OEM roof rack. Everybody said the same thing. "Sorry, it's discontinued".

Plan C. Did a nationwide search on auto recyclers to see if anybody had one. Unfortunately, the OEM roof rack isn't (at the places I called anyways) an inventoried part. It's not one they put into their systems - so when you have them do a search in the computer it comes up with nothing. I pleaded with most places to step away from the computer and go out and take a peek at the roof and see. Some agreed, and said they'd call me back. It's been days now, no calls back, and follow-up calls don't seem to help...

Plan D. Contact every VX seller I could find and see if they'd be willing to part with the roofrack before selling. No luck.

Plan E. Contact ZEUS for information on his fab job for the Thule rack/basket. He gave a great response, detailed, etc. I might have to have one fabricated at a metal shop?

The question is, aren't these things (parts) supposed to be available for 10 years after the manuf. date? And, what's next on the chop block? How are these things decided by isuzu?

-biju.

Did you try contacting Yakima directly, they are the ones that made the rack for Isuzu.......plan F maybe........
plan G, you could probably rig up one of the popluar racks (like yakima, Thule, etc.) to fit the stock mounting points.

Do a search on the board. A while back someone listed the part#'s for a round bar rack (either a thule or yakima) and posted pictures.
As far as the parts for 10 years I don't think that applies to optional equipment, which the rack was.

yesterday after work I went to RackAttack here in Golden, CO.

They tried to fit several racks, and the only thing that remotely came close was the Thule 300 (new version of the 1A). It simply didn't fit right at all (not secure enough).

I haven't tried to contact Yakima directly... Good point! I'll letcha know what I find out...

-biju.

So what would happen in the event you had an accident with your roof rack or it was stolen. Insurance wise, I'm sure a body shop could hunt one down for ya ;)

If it gets stolen or crushed, you get a check to buy yourself dinner with.

At some point, this had to happen, I guess.

Here's the Rack Manual it has the part numbers.

Technically you're talking about accessories here and not actual mechanicals or body parts. I kind of thought that this would happen when the mats started appearing on eBay cheap last year as Old Stock - the excess was probably dumped from the warehouses as the demand was so minimal. If you plan to keep your VX, you may want to start collecting some of the harder-to-get parts as well.

-- John

I work in the rv industry and the rule for parts is 6 years for oem manufacturers to carry parts before they can be discontinued, but that is in America. IE Ford,Chevy,Dodge, etc...

One of thre radiator hoses is discontinued already, I called st charles to order a set, and they told me.

I'm sure someone like Gates is still making them, but it gives you an idea of whats coming.

John C.

they told me that Isuzu bought the patent for the Roof rack and attachments from them when they made the VX and that they(Yakima) could not by law provide me with a new roof rack or rails or any attachments for the VX or a lawsuit would result for them from Isuzu.

Thanks for calling them, SPAZZ. I ended up sending an email (no response from them yet). Sounds like I'll get a similar response... *sigh.

I did end up finding one at a yard, but it wasn't easy. They had no clue as to how much Isuzu charged for them (they didn't have pricing on accessories) - so I got it for $75.

Scary to think the 'discontinued' plague is starting to effect parts not considered accessories (i.e. Hotsauce's need for radiator hose). Anybody else encounter this issue with other VX parts?

-biju.

p.s. - Me thinks the next VX roofrack on ebay should be very interesting! :p

$75! You stole that!!!!! :dance:

Stolen indeed.

I was also able to locate a brand new Loadwarrior w/ stretch net on craigslist for $175. So hauling stuff for Zu will be less of an issue.

I'm still on the grind for another rack, and just hope one pops up in the near future.

-biju.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biju

Scary to think the 'discontinued' plague is starting to effect parts not considered accessories (i.e. Hotsauce's need for radiator hose). Anybody else encounter this issue with other VX parts?

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Oh yeah - when I backed into the tree (I KNEW I should have shelled out cash for a backup camera!) I was told by Merlin at St.Charles that there were NO new rear doors out there. None. Zero. Took three weeks for the body shop to find one in a yard. Its only gonna get worse. Makes me sad. I really don't need the headache of driving a car that I can't easily fix, but there's simply nothing out there that can take Zue's place in my driveway or heart. So, I guess we deal with it.

Ron

I paid over $350 for my oem roof rack, you did steal yours!!!!!! As for the question asked about trouble getting parts, I am still waiting on an ambient air sensor and the brushed aluminum "fangs" that were "ordered" by the top body shop in muncie, In. Everthing else that was damaged by bambi took 4 months to lacate and ship!!! but they fixed it all and she looks good as new. now, if the last 2 parts would just come in.........

Tried finding a basic part today...a U joint. No local parts shop caried them. The joke of a local Zu dealer said they don't have them, can't get them, they are no longer available. OH, S*%$. I needed one by this weekend! ;eeky;
Called Merlin. He said a lot of the parts can not be ordered by dealerships/parts stores to put on their shelf. Must be an order for a customer requiring a VIN #. My U joints will be here in 2-3 days!

Merlin is the man!

I believe the factory rack is a modified Yakima WingRider with special towers for the VX. I just put a Yakima Cobra bike rack on my VX, using Yakima Mighty Mounts, and was told by RackAttack that the WingRider was discontinued (not sure if this is true), but you can certainly still find many parts online. I'm not sure if any other parts besides the towers are custom for the VX, more experienced VXers here probably know. Also: Maybe the standard WingRider towers could be modified to fit the VX somehow?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Triathlete

Tried finding a basic part today...a U joint. No local parts shop caried them. The joke of a local Zu dealer said they don't have them, can't get them, they are no longer available. OH, S*%$. I needed one by this weekend! ;eeky;
Called Merlin. He said a lot of the parts can not be ordered by dealerships/parts stores to put on their shelf. Must be an order for a customer requiring a VIN #. My U joints will be here in 2-3 days!

Merlin is the man!

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I got a set of Isuzu OEM u-joints recently online for about $60 each. They're the same part number as the Trooper.

Folks, y'all gotta realize most of our parts are identical to those on Trooper/Rodeos/Amigos and even some of Isuzu's medium trucks. The unique stuff will be difficult, like body panels and interior trim. But even a lot of that stuff comes from other more common Isuzus.

When I get mine I'll post up the part # for future reference.
The local parts store told me his computer showed no part# for a '99 VX and showed differant part#'s for '00 and '01. I thought they would all be the same. Either way, they didn't carry any of them.