Mitsubishi Parts Availability

[kdgreene]

Hello to all future Fuso owners and lovers,

It seems that there is a big misconception regarding Fuso parts. We keep hearing that Fuso parts are available anywhere in the world. We hate to burst your bubble, but based on travelling in over 40 countries with our trusty 2004 FG 639, the only countries that stock parts for our vehicle are those countries that sell 4x4 Fusos ie: Australia, New Zealand and the US. Other countries that sell Mitsubishi trucks do not have parts for the 4x4 Fusos. They can all work on the vehicle (except in Scandinavia, and one dealer in Germany), but we have always had to supply the parts ourselves. Everything, from filters to brakes to bushings etc., we have had to provide them. Not to mention the fact that our local dealer in Mesa/Phoenix refuses to ship internationally.

If someone has had a different experience we would love to know about it. We would love to be able to buy our parts from dealers outside of the US.

Don't get us wrong, we love our Fuso dearly and wouldn't change a thing about it, but this parts thing has been an issue and is very frustrating.

Kim & Don Greene

Adventure Learning Foundation
www.questconnect.org
Americas Overland
www.americasoverland.net
Harvest Hosts
www.harvesthosts.com

 

[kdgreene]

Most difficult parts to get

The most expensive parts were the brakes (not even 4x4 specific) that the Mitsubishi dealer in Belize couldn't procure and that we had to order from Phoenix, have Don's brother pick up and send through the US postal service and then pay customs duty on - total cost $3,000.00.

The most frustrating was the retaining ring for a 4x4 hub & bearings. This part was incorrectly put on in the Netherlands when we had additional brake work done. It started scraping and we were unable to find anyone who would even take the hub off to look at it, including a Mitsubishi dealer in Germany. We finally did find another Mitsubishi dealer in Germany who was familiar with 4 wheel drive that was able to diagnose the problem. Since the ring would have to be ordered from the US, the owner of the dealership went to a local machine shop and had a ring made. Once the problem was diagnosed it took less than four hours to repair it and cost about $300.00. But the aggravation (stops at 3 different truck repair places) and expense beforehand were very frustrating.

 

[haven]

Thanks Don and Kim. Your experience will help others immeasurably.

So the Emperor has no clothes? I guess local Fuso dealers don't stock spare parts for vehicles that are not imported into their specific country. Since Fuso makes several versions of the 2WD Canter as well as the 4x4 model, it's possible that spares won't be available for a particular 2WD either (the brake shoes you mention being one example). All this makes sense from the dealers' perspective. The news is the dealers' inability (or unwillingness) to procure the parts they don't stock from Fuso's major distributors.

Here's the list of Fuso distributors in countries around the world:
http://www.mitsubishi-fuso.com/en/sales_service/special/index.html

In addition to USA, New Zealand, Australia and Japan, the Canter 4x4 is sold in South Africa for sure.

That leaves Toyota and Mercedes as the two manufacturers with close-to-worldwide distribution of the vehicles we talk about.

Chip Haven

 

[VicHanson]

There is a huge market and business in selling used Japanese cars and trucks here in Peru. Importers buy them from Japan, convert them to left hand drive here and then sell them. Most dealers will not stock or sell parts for them, because those sales cut into their new vehicle sales. I have had this problem with both Nissan and Mitsubishi vehicles. Thankfully there is also a large independent parts network here, to supply those vehicles, but it can still be hard to get certain parts. I finally had to sell my AWD Nissan AD wagon because I couldn't get shock absorbers for it. I had to buy similar ones and have them modified to fit, the welding ruined them and they only lasted for a few thousand KM on rough roads. You can also have many things custom fabricated here, for reasonable prices, but not always great quality.

I couldn't get a new latch for the rear hatch of my Mitsubishi van (L400/Delica Space Gear), even in Lima. The new Delica vans sold here look like they use the same latch but nobody stocked it. After having the old one rebuilt 3 times, and again only lasting a few thousand KMs, a friend finally found a used one in Arica, Chile, for about $150 (They have a lot more of the used vans there).

Toyota is one of the few companies that have authorized parts stores that sell new parts for the vehicles not sold here.

As I said on another thread, Mitsubishi doesn't sell the 4x4 Fuso here, only the 2 wheel drive. Isuzu sells both 2 and 4 wheel drive NPRs here (can't remember if the 4x4 is called an NPS or not, they use a different designation as well).

Vic

 

[kerry]

That's not good news. How much work have you had to have done on your truck overseas in how many miles? My first thought is to carry a lot of spares along given the unbelievable cost for your brakes. It would be valuable to know what kinds of parts typically fail on the FG.

 

[kdgreene]

I can't say what parts typically fail on the 4x4 FG, as I believe Doug Hackney's vehicle (a newer model though) has not had the same issues as ours.

That said, the number one issue that we have had is that our front suspension bushings wear out every 25k miles or so. We think that there might have been a issue when a Mits dealer in Tucscon added a spacer block to our rear suspension in a failed attempt to level our camper box. We think that this caused our rear axle to be ever so slightly out of alignment which placed additional stress on our front end. This had two effects: our suspension bushings wore out and the camber on our front tires went out every 12k miles. We had the rear axle aligned in Finland so we have our fingers crossed that this will fix the front end problems.

Number two is that we must carry a set of axle seals, front and rear for when we do scheduled maintenance on the hubs or for the brakes. We service the front hubs less often than the book suggests as this is what mechanics have told us to do, so we service the hubs about every 30K. Our brakes were checked at approx 65K miles and were OK, but by 85K we had a couple of leaky brake cylinders so we did a full brake job including replacing all cylinders. We kept the old cylinders so that we can get kits to rebuilt them and to hold them as spares.

The only real spares that we carry on a regular basis are filters. Out of the developed world, we replace the fuel filter each time we replace the oil filter. We regularly blow out the air cleaner. We try to carry enough filters, including the transmission filter, to last one year on the road. We stock up every time we return home on "vacation". I think that sums things up.

Don
www.questconnect.org
www.americasoverland.net
www.harvesthosts.com

 

[whatcharterboat]

My first thought is to carry a lot of spares along given the unbelievable cost for your brakes. It would be valuable to know what kinds of parts typically fail on the FG.

We have aftermarket brake shoes available in Oz. Fraction of the price and supposedly improve braking performance. Now we hardly do any maintenance type jobs at work but I know all the FG mechanics around the place and I'll see if I can find the part numbers and make. If it's a generic shoe ....give me a couple of days. Unless Engineer could help here.

Also IIRC the "FG fleet mechanic interview" thread had some good info on parts to carry that I managed to extract from one of the guys. Long way back though. This'll blow you out. Gives you an idea of the abuse the beach creates. Spoke to one of the beach mechanics 2 days ago about shackle rubbers. Rear of front axle to be precise. He presenty replaces the rubbers every 2 weeks. Every 2 weeks!!!! I suggested urethane ...he said they chew out in a couple of days!!! We are going to try some better shocks to slow the axle movement down. OT sorry.

BTW things here are no different. Recently saw a FG84 that had the retaining ring in the front hub installed incorrectly at the dealership and wouldn't engage the hub for 4WD. So the guys in the Netherlands aren't the only ones.

And the dealers not wanting to ship overseas is common too. A Californian Expo member recently wanted some Aussie FG parts which resulted in the same type of arrangement. Buying the parts here and physically taking them down to the postoffice. Don't get me wrong, it was a pleasure to help but it all seemed to hard for the guys behind the counter to do it directly.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Don. I posted my last before I read yours. Now the suspension bushes isn't really OT is it?

If this helps we think that it's possible we are seeing this quick wear because of the rear suspension (more than the front) is allowing too much body roll. Possible solutions are obvious. Better shocks, better location of shocks, sway bars. Early days on this one but I'll keep you posted ...

 

[kdgreene]

I guess it's good to hear that the bushing problem isn't ours alone. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we do have two additional brake system issues.

The exhaust brake manifold failed in Guatemala and none of the Mitsu dealers could figure it out. That was why we ordered the brakes, due to a poor diagnosis. Our local mechanic at home in Arizona figured it out, 5000 miles later, after attaching a hand held pressure meter to the system and going for a ride. When we notified Mitsu America, they said it was impossible, but they did relent and offered us a new unit under warrantee. The old one was rusted out!

The other brake issue isn't major but is yet to be resolved, we get some brake shudder when going down hill.

Cheers,
Don

 

[VicHanson]

I have had to replace the front suspension bushings on my Delica twice, and I think they are bad again (in less than 3,000 km this time). I figured it was just the poorly fabricated parts here - can't get originals. Also on the brakes, there are shops that rebuild the shoes and pads, can't buy them here either. But the rebuilt brakes are good, no problems there. I would guess anywhere in S. America (in the large cities) you can find places to manufacture or rebuild parts. There are lots of old trucks here, especially Dodge and Volvo, from the 50's and 60's, they keep them running.

 

[kerry]

Don:
Given the fact that you had to use your brother to ship parts from the US, how feasible is it to use that method when overseas? Have either a parts supplier in the US or a friend willing to ship parts overseas? When I owned MB motorhomes, in the US and while on the continent in Europe, I used a British parts supplier (www.eurocarparts.co.uk) because I wanted a supplier who speaks English and had MB van parts. They shipped parts to me in the US and in France and I was happy with that method.

Kerry

 

[dhackney]

So the Emperor has no clothes? I guess local Fuso dealers don't stock spare parts for vehicles that are not imported into their specific country.

This is true for every brand and every model. Read through the overlander interviews and you'll see mention of the fact that no matter what brand, you will need to ship in parts from the native market for that truck. This includes MB, which has, by far, the most extensive global dealer, parts and service network of any brand.

The upside to a brand/model that is sold in a lot of countries is that even though they may not have a market (or model) specific part for your truck, they will probably have access to the majority of parts that are not unique.

There is no brand panacea solution with parts and service.

Even the old round nose MBs, arguably the most popular medium to heavy 4x4 truck on earth, have market specific parts.

So neither the Fuso nor MB nor Toyota nor any other brand is as ubiquitous with parts and service as the "sold in X # of countries" would have you believe.

In that sense, the proper phrase would be "the emperors have no clothes."

 

[dhackney]

I can't say what parts typically fail on the 4x4 FG, as I believe Doug Hackney's vehicle (a newer model though) has not had the same issues as ours.

We had no (zero) failures on any Mitsubishi parts that were not the direct result of our own modifications (frame).

Like Don and Kim, we deferred maintenance on our front hubs while overseas based on the advice of our service manager in San Diego.

We've had no issues with the front bushings, but we put custom spring packs on matched to our weight (lots), aftermarket shocks (Bilstein) and a custom rear sway bar when we built the truck. These could have eliminated or mitigated the issue(s) causing the bushing wear on the earlier model trucks.

I cannot speak to the specific engineering changes to the current model versus Don & Kim's generation FG.

 

[dhackney]

My first thought is to carry a lot of spares

My advice is, whether you're on a bike or in a truck, is to take along:
- known failure components (known engineering / design flaws)
- model/market specific normal wear replacement parts (belts, filters)
- special service tools required for common maintenance / repair (wrenches, special sockets/drivers, etc.)

There are no junk yards in the developing world because they specialize in keeping things running. What does finally give up is stripped down to the sound of the horn for use on things still on the road.

This mode of operation, on a society-wide scale, means that unless it is model/market specific, they can figure out a way to fix it out there. Mechanical diagnosis is still alive in those markets.

If you are in a developed or post-development economy, then the method is to swap in new parts until something finally fixes the problem. Mechanical diagnosis is long dead in these markets.

For our overseas travel with the Fuso, we carried:

• Air filters
• Fuel filters (note that we installed a fuel filter array that allowed to hot-swap to a backup filter, so our filters were not stock)
• Oil filters
• Belts
• Wheel studs (left and right side specific)
• Wheel nuts (left and right side specific)
• Service manual (electronic, PDF files)

We carried a lot of generic stuff, such as fuses, but that's all I can remember that is Mitsu specific.

You will not need to carry lubricants, they are available everywhere. The exception is if you use synthetics or you want to exactly match the manufacturer's recommended brand.

The only exception to this is that we carried GM limited-slip differential treatment for our rear axle that was recommended by our service manager in San Diego.

I did our oil, filter, lube and axle lube maintenance.

Note that Don and Kim's is an automatic. The current gen FGs do not require a filter for the transmission.

 

[dhackney]

Not to mention the fact that our local dealer in Mesa/Phoenix refuses to ship internationally.

Our dealer, Kearny Mesa Truck Center http://www.kmtc1.com/ was willing to ship us parts wherever we were on the planet.

We found an RV dealer, Richardson's RV Centers, Inc., with who must be the world's best parts guy, CJ Solitz, who shipped us parts.

The same was true when we were overseas on the bike.

In our experience, it is dealer dependent.

The best thing to do is set up an account with a mail forwarding service before you leave the country. Their entire business model is built on receiving domestic mail, packages and deliveries and then shipping that same mail, boxes, etc. overseas to ex-pats. We never had any problems using this method to ensure delivery of anything wherever we were on the planet.

Getting the stuff shipped to you is the easy part. Your biggest challenge will be in paying the duties & taxes and clearing customs when you ship things into a country. Your truck part will probably arrive within a few days at the port of entry, but it can easily take two weeks to get it from there to you, even if you are in the parking lot.

It's all part of the charm of overlanding and those adventures are usually the main topic of conversation whenever overlanders hook up out there on the trail.

Just another reminder that "it's not about the truck, it's about the experiences."