Anyone here direct sourced the Chinese genuine Walbro carburetor manufacturer?

[Brewmaster]

Curious since they are under the Walbro QC and put out a good product.
I would be curious which models they manufacture and ordering for a few specific Chainsaws.
Chinese carbs are hit and miss; whereas the Chinese Walbro are good.
I'm finding 2-4 times markup on them here in the US and finally sourced one "genuine" Walbro fairly cheap.
Meaning I am still paying markup but "IF" the price holds true "THEN" many Genuine Walbros might be $30 to your door.
(That is what I last paid)

 

[barfer]

Curious since they are under the Walbro QC and put out a good product.
I would be curious which models they manufacture and ordering for a few specific Chainsaws.
Chinese carbs are hit and miss; whereas the Chinese Walbro are good.
I'm finding 2-4 times markup on them here in the US and finally sourced one "genuine" Walbro fairly cheap.
Meaning I am still paying markup but "IF" the price holds true "THEN" many Genuine Walbros might be $30 to your door.
(That is what I last paid)

No idea on source but loads and loads of experience with China manufacturing. I lived there for awhile doing work for some of those guys who run those manufacturing facilities.

China manufacturing generally has a some of the absolute lowest standards for quality control. A majority of the factory workers are *children* and have little training and littler QA/QC supervision.

So even if you find the OEM you’re gonna have to order 10 carbs and experiment with which 6 don’t work quite right.

Or you could just call Weber carbs and give them your specs and they’ll send you something phenomenal. And yes it will cost more than your POS China hit and miss carb… but it will be *perfect* and your saw will never run better. And when the saw is done the carb will still be worth whatever because it’s a Weber.

I only suggest Weber because they have an office in the US and they answer the phone when you call them.

But probably a high quality Japanese manufactured carb exists—I just have no idea how to identify or locate one. Maybe google JDM carb for your saw. Good luck!

 

[barfer]

You also allude to a risk that is very real: fake walbro carbs. There are entire fake apple stores in China with employees wearing Apple shirts that think they work for Apple and every single thing in the store is fake. Counterfeit manufacturing is an enormous industry in China. Usually involving employees at the OEM sliding stuff through the side door to their brother in law or whatever.

So… if you find the OEM most OEMs won’t sell in quantities less than production volume (ie loads and loads of carbs) so they’ll refer you to a reseller. The reseller may or may not be selling “genuine” walbro carbs. So… how much frustration do you want to go through? How many $30 fake walbro carbs are you willing to buy?

I’d love it if I could get guaranteed supply of high quality whatever from China… but believe me… you and I are NOT the first guys to think of this. And an entire industry exists around answering that question with counterfeit goods… (shrug)

 

[cscltd]

You could possibly have gotten a real carb via secondary market that some worker may have walked out of factory with one or two or dumpster dived ones that didn’t make final inspection. Walbro and zama have been made in China for countless years and are a wholly-owned subsidiary, so I’m sure any inquiry is through walbro themselves?