Didn't know the paint thing was under warranty. I've got a SE drive that the paints falling off of. Mech. that thing has been solid as a rock though.

Smitty, I saw some new gears on ebay at $135 !!!

now you're talkin' - #2 and #3 speedies - hell, #6's when the patent expires......

Well looking at the Track record of Merc I see no problem that the chinese with their working ethics and morale being at least as good as anything Merc has come up with.
America better get their act together if they want to compete on any level with the chinaman.
Remember Buick has a plant already there...and Nokia.

Thinking the Chinese will be just cheap labour is a wrong assumption and will last only for a short duration as they have found out what the labourer gets paid everywhere else.
Investors have already found out the Chinese are demanding higher payrolls as they can tackle any hightech job shown at them.

forced prison labor
http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/redir?s...ion=WebResults

We need some of that labor here so criminals can pay their own way instead of taxpayers paying for their extended stay.

LOL!
A billion Chinese can't be wrong!

I am suprised to hear the alpha drives are holding up. 95% of the goods manufactured in China that I have ever bought are pure crap. the problem is that you can hardly find anything not made in China these days. I supose it wont be too long before Mercury outsources to China anyway

not to get too off topic........ but we have a chain of stores up here called Princess Auto www.princessauto.com It sounds like its alot like your Harbour Frieght......they sell chinese welders, presses, grinders, air compressors, air tools etc, all kinds of stuff

it is a VERY busy store......Ive been outfitting my shop with stuff from there, all VERY reasonably priced......from what I can see at that store the chinese have capitailised on building tools etc for the home shop market......alot (almost all) of the stuff IS NOT Snap On quality THATS FOR SURE.......but for a home shop guy like me they're fine......Im not using them all day every day, making a living with them......IMO they have been smart enough to capitalise on that market......why cant North American manufactures have a line for home shops to compete....all North Am stuff is top quality geared for prof stuff

example.....I bought a 240v Mig welder at Princess on sale for $300......at the local welding shop the cheapest Miller was $600 up to like $1500.....wow.......the miller was a nicer machine in every respect.....it doesnt take a trained eye to see it.......my buddy who is a pro welder laughed at the so called "shield" and "wire brush" included in the kit.....but he tried it and said......"as long as you dont weld anything much over 1/4" it'll be fine".....which suits me.

be sure to keep your receipts I cant tell you how much chinese made crap I have had to return