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Hopefully Midfifty will chime in, I am sure they can get more answers out of CPP than we can due to their bulk purchasing.
I will ask them to read the article and see what their response is.
I will also see them at the SEMA show next week if they don't get back to me by then
We have sold about 400 of their columns since they have came out just 3 or so years ago. And have only got about a dozen returns, most of which were problems that were resolved by just sending another of the same column.
I will ask them to read the article and see what their response is.
I will also see them at the SEMA show next week if they don't get back to me by then
We have sold about 400 of their columns since they have came out just 3 or so years ago. And have only got about a dozen returns, most of which were problems that were resolved by just sending another of the same column.
But ill let you know when I know
Is it worth your time to dis-assemble one yourself to cover your butt?
Thanks for looking into it, it's reassuring.
The more I think about this the more pissed I get at myself. I have been involved in the high performance industry to long and know better than compromise safety in the area of steering and brakes just to save a few bucks. Now I have to wonder if my truck is safe when I take my grandson for a ride or how about when I drive the truck to Scottsdale this month for Goodguys.
There are several solutions to this. I can wait on MidFifty to check into this next week while they are at the SEMA show and maybe they will come up with an answer but will I feel comfortable or safe for that matter with another knock off CPP column in the truck, probably not. I will also be at the SEMA show next week, I have been a SEMA member for years. I will be selecting a new column from Ididit or Flaming River and installing in the truck before the truck moves out of the garage again. Sometimes you just have to pay the price for being stupid.
I have now learned my lesson like others on the Form have learned prior. Don't buy cheap knock off junk just to save a few bucks, it will probably end up costing you more in the long run.
I do know that article and it has been circling around the web for a while now.
But just like most things you read on the internet, it has some truth but not all of it. The content does not offer the correct facts towards our column. Although we have seen the safety concerns of some columns in the article, our columns use the same type tilt ball that GM does and if the ball ever wears prematurely the 2 C shapes will interlock, still leaving control of the steering wheel.
The columns shown under CPP are not ours. They were categorizing any overseas column as "defective". All CPP columns are date stamped (etched) in the tube and have a production number and date. We have tested our own product and based on consumer feedback and the return rate, I can tell you our columns are good. If there is any slop developed in the tilt ball, the CPP column carries our full lifetime warranty and we would be happy to inspect, repair and replace it if needed.
We hope that clarifies you and your customers concern and if they have any further questions or issues, please don't hesitate to give them my information.
Aaron Strietzel
Classic Performance Products, Inc.
They are really good people over there, so if anyone still has concerns about it, or existing problems, please take them up on the offer of contacting them.
MidFifty,Thankyou for forwarding that, I appreciate your time.
What is the country of manufacture of the CPP column? In the letter Aaron said that the NZ document categorised any overseas as defective, which wasn't how I read it. They simply stated that any of the columns NOT made by Ididit,Flaming River etc (US Made) should be considered potentially dangerous and each should be disassembled for inspection. That seems fair or have I mis-read it.
Alright we also took one apart for your guys, which was NOT easy to do come to find out
Nothing broke, nothing crumbled, here are the pictured parts that they say are bad.
We also couldnt figure out how to get the shaft out, and at one point we were slamming each end of it on the concrete multiple times trying to get the bearing out, I was afraid we were going to break the ball from doing that before we could show it didn't break! But it held up just fine.
Note that this detailed article calls out the CPP weld as unsatisfactory.
After taking a comparative government class last year, CCP can only mean Chinese Communist Party to me, and, well, I sure wouldn't trust a steering column from them.
Can you confirm whether they mig or tig welded the shaft?
The safety police are sometimes a good thing, however, my first thought was so the ball fails. The forks will still work to get you off of the road.
Second thought was when have I ever pryed on one of my shafts welded in a similar fashion hard enough to break it..... Never (and that includes throwing pipes on wrenches and ratchet handles that have been welded). I just can't imagine exerting enough torsional force on a 15-20" diameter wheel to break the weld.
On top of everything I just said, I had also planned to bore out the center of the stock wheel and replace it with a turned down center of a bowtie wheel welded in to retain the old wheel.
I guess the difference is that I trust my welds, not so sure if I trust a seven year old kids from china.........
The LVVTA article inplies that the CPP shaft is plug welded as well as butt-welded. Hard to believe it would fail, regardless of MIG or TIG (I'd be pretty sure it's MIG'd). The ball breaking is a big deal in almost any driving scenario, even going straight down a smooth road. Note the LVVTA insists on metal ***** on any non-OEM-based unit, hard to argue with that.
We really have a free rein here in the states, almost everywhere else in the world requires these engineering inspections and manufacturers' certifications. Enough abuses and we'll end up just like the rest of the world.
I'll have our machine shop check it out Monday, but so far we are with CPP on this one, with the sheer number of them that they have sold, if there was something major wrong with them, it would of turned up by now, the column in that article tested was made in 2012, and I'm sure they have made many improvements on the design since then. It was a brand new product from them around that time.
Don't forget the lifetime warranty on them
I'll still have a talk with them in person at the SEMA show though. I'm sure it'll be a good conversation
To be fair to MidFifty, I did order this column on 6/13/2012, it was on back order so I don't know the actual date that I recieved it. It was installed in the unfinished truck and not put on the road until the start of this summer, the column gets looser with miles. I now has 1100 miles on the truck and I have decided that it's time to go. I don't know how many of these are currently install in unfinished trucks, I guess that would be a good question.
