looking into replacing mine (since I'll do the waterpump soon) or at least buy a spare to be able to replace it just in case. I live in Thailand, and Jeep parts are really hard or even impossible to get here.. I mostly order from the US (amazon.com), but hard to find right hand drive parts there.
I'm currently running the original one, which has been fixed about 5 years ago. A local shop quoted me $150 to rebuild it completely of aluminum, so I went for it (yes, labor is very cheap in Thailand) .. but what I got instead is just the top plastic replaced with aluminum.. the bottom part is still plastic (as cheap as labor is, as hard it gets with communication).
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In general I always go for mopar whenever possible, and I've learned that a LHD mopar (55037653AB) can be easily converted to a RHD (55037654AD) by switching the mounting brackets on the sides. I'm quite sure that only works with the mopar and not with any aftermarket... definitely not with fully welded ones.
Regarding wemopar they would have a 55037653AB in stock for $360 and I've just sent them an eMail if there is any chance they ship international, but I guess I'm looking at additional $150 shipping and $350 customs.. so we talk about at least $860 for that piece.
If I look at amazon only Denso has those side mounting brackets, but no clue if they are compatible with mopar and can be switched to RHD.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NCO5XL5/?tag=wranglerorg-20 .. For example that $153 comes to a total of $406 including $100 shipping and $155 customs (amazon thankfully pre-calculcates/pre-pays customs, which is a life saver in ordering parts. Thailand has really high customs on car parts, so in that case 100% customs on top. Anybody experience with Denso? And it would be plastic pieces again.
If I look at other aftermarket, there is basically zero chance to get a RHD one...
What it's really easy to get here instead is stuff directly from china, since it's not far from Thailand and they have some deal between the countries about lower customs too. So looking at that one
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002237597464.html (which is actually RHD, pictures match) would be a really easy and relatively cheap solution, and it looks like properly welded... in theory. Problem with china stuff is always, when picture doesn't match products and any of those on aliexpress have basically zero reviews. And I'm quite sure there are Chinese people who actually can weld. Even they offer 30 days return, it's not worth much if I'm stranded on the roadside or a mounting bracket is off by 1 inch when installing. That one would probably cost me $300-350 (have to guess customs).
Thoughts?