OEM vs Aftermarket Cylinder rebuild seals?

[Aston08]

Having a hard time finding a straight answer on the subject... is there a notable reason to pay 4x the cost for OEM seals vs aftermarket?

 

[Tazza]

Depends on the seal, some seals are dealer only, unless you know just the right place to go.
My local seal shop has actually sold Bobcat seals, not sure if to make up kits or to repair machines in their shop, but for rams, i see no problem what so ever to use aftermarket seals. They are not anything special that is hard to get.
I did a ram recently that the dealer wanted over $120 plus tax, i paid my local seal store $27. The seals these guys sell are all of the highest quality.

 

[Aston08]

Depends on the seal, some seals are dealer only, unless you know just the right place to go.
My local seal shop has actually sold Bobcat seals, not sure if to make up kits or to repair machines in their shop, but for rams, i see no problem what so ever to use aftermarket seals. They are not anything special that is hard to get.
I did a ram recently that the dealer wanted over $120 plus tax, i paid my local seal store $27. The seals these guys sell are all of the highest quality.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know if I was paying for high margins or some vastly superior materials.

 

[Tazza]

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't know if I was paying for high margins or some vastly superior materials.

Some times the biggest issue is matching them, for a hydraulic cylinder you have a few very common seals, any good shop will have these available, mine has never let me down. Where special shaped seals come in are motors or control blocks. You get weird shaped backup rings or moulded Orings.
A good idea for say wear rings on a cylinder is to leave them alone till the shop sees them just in case they don't have them. Generally wear rings are fine to leave alone and just replace the seals. The cylinder i did last week had a plastic wear ring moulded onto the piston. Very strange setup, as all the other ones i have done were cast iron with a regular seal on it. If i tore the wear ring off, i'd be up for a new piston, or at least i'd be making one.
I'd start with your seal shop, if they can't match them, then go for OEM. Their quality will not be better than a reputable seal shop.