Gotta go with U.S. steel and quality parts. I've seen offshore metal parts do silly bad things when stressed hard. The problem is that the suppliers overseas just flat-out lie, so you get good and bad bolts and such mixed in the same lots.
I've seen dangerous things as well - like garage door hinges nearly come apart from cheap bolts made in China. Shoot, when I took off my busted manifold once, I had to get a hacksaw to get the OEM bolt off(bent my wrench) and the Chinese one I just laid into it with a pipe on the wrench and tore the metal apart - felt like pulling taffy.
And it's the bearings, bolts, and so on that fail first, almost every time.(provided you do proper welding).
Go and call Trail Gear and ask them where their bolts, spacers, washers, and such are from in their kits. That little box of parts... There's a reason it costs a bit less $$.
Note - a decade or so ago, this wasn't a problem in the industry as almost all steel was from Japan or the U.S. by default. You have to shop extra-careful lately to keep from getting recycled junk materials that are labeled as new as a retailer. 90%+ of companies don't care at all and look the other way.
