I have only used the old stock ones and my stash is gone, and yes the old ones from what I heard make a better ride. Randall has commented many times on how he dislikes the repos. The problem with the old ones is that they break after time, say 50 years. Every tr3 I have worked on had a broken spring plus the break is difficult to see and really cannot be fixed. I had a very talented shipyard welded try a couple of times, but they would break after a year or so. So yeh get a good set of local copycat ones and I think you will be better off---and get your money back. These guys need to try harder or get different contractors for their stuff they sell. There is that set on evil Bay with free shipping and I think 160.00, but my gut tells my one of them is broke. Another option is to just get the top spring made and clean everything up good and go with that because the top one carries all the load. I have not asked my guy about that, but it must be cheaper.
steve