Hi, does anyone know who is the steering box OEM for a 2004 Discovery 2?
I've seen a few posts saying that Adwest is the OEM, but lrdirect is selling a Bearmach unit described as OEM
OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer and is often used by suppliers and manufacturers of parts. It DOES NOT necessarily mean that these manufacturers supply parts to Land Rover - it is usually taken to mean that these manufacturers supply parts to the Automotive industry in general - not just Land Rover.
OE, standing for Original Equipment, is the only accurate description applied to proper, original-standard LR parts.
Throughout a production run all car manufacturers buy their parts from a variety of manufacturers, so on the subject of steering boxes, Adwest may well be on the panel of suppliers to LR, but your car could have one of perhaps 4 different boxes depending on what LR was buying or had deliveries from on the day of the fabrication of your actual vehicle.
Car manufacturers use a method called "Just In Time" (JIT) parts supply. This means that as cars are being built, the parts for those cars are being delivered at the side door of the production line the the car-maker doesn't hold huge and expensive stocks of parts.
They have computer links between their production line and the parts suppliers, so the parts are delivered just before they are put into the cars. This means to ensure smooth supply a panel of suppliers are contracted on a JIT basis to supply Land Rover.
Also bear in mind that the likes of Bearmach, Britpart and Almakes are just wholesalers, buying their parts from wherever is the best deal at any given time.
