Grey Market Tractors

[twincorners]

I give up.... what's a grey market tractor?

 

[Bird]

Grey market tractors are tractors that were manufactured and sold for use in other countries instead of the USA (primarily Japan, I believe). They were used tractors that were imported into the country, and apparently many of them were good tractors, but they did not meet US safety standards (and I'm not sure about any EPA requirements). It is my understanding that no more are being imported now; that it is illegal to do so. In some cases, some owners have had problems obtaining parts for grey market tractors, and the new tractor dealers may or may not help.

And since I've had no experience with grey market tractors, can someone else explain better?


Bird

 

[Muhammad]

In addition to what Bird said, some grey market tractors have odd PTO speeds, or reverse rotation. (Sometimes not safe for use with US implements.) Also, PTO shields are often not attached, the tractors usually won't have rollbars (ROPS) unless added in the US with a US equivalent's part, and often come with rice tires. These tires sometimes are odd sizes, which means you might have difficulty finding new tires down the road. Also, grey market tractors don't have English safety decals (tractors from Japan will have decals in Japanese).

Sometimes a grey market tractor will have a US equivalent... but often times there is no match. In the case that you have a grey market tractor with a US equivalent, you will have a much easier time obtaining parts for your tractor. Even still, not all dealers support grey market tractors, for various, understandable reasons.

If your grey market tractor does not have a US equivalent model, you are pretty much 'on your own' for parts and service.

Other notes... import of grey market Kubota tractors into the US is illegal, but there are many (manufactured in the late-70’s – early 80’s) floating around ... grey market tractors often are shipped to the US by boat in crates of 8, 16, or 32 machines ... tractors are not the only grey market equipment imported into the US (engines, excavators, lift trucks, forklifts, etc) but tractors have been known to have more support (however limited) than the other equipment.

Hope this helps,

 

[JimBinMI]

Muhammad,

Much to my amazement, while shopping on-line for a new APS camera, I was warned by ritzcamera.com that they didn't sell grey market cameras but to watch out because some companies do! The only grey market I had heard of was tractors! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Muhammad]

Jim,

Yes, the term grey market basically means what Bird said, a product manufactured for use in a country other than the one it is being sold in. So if you drive your tractor north to Canada and try to sell it, it's a grey market. Probably not quite as big of a deal as the grey market tractors we're talking about, but still techniclaly grey market. The issue came up when one asked if going to Canada and buying a tractor to save some money would make sense. If it is a Canadian model, it will be grey market in the US. I am not positive on the import laws from Canda to the Unites States with tractors, though.

 

[Bird]

I didn't know which of the posts to "reply" to here, but Muhammad added information, and then JimBinMI mentioned the cameras, so I thought I'd tell you that you can do an Internet search, at least on http://www.mamma.com and I suppose other search engines as well, and find a lot of information about grey market merchandise,including tractors, but I think you'll find more if you spell it "gray" instead of "grey". You'll find an interesting site for the State of Washington that includes a long list of model numbers of gray market Kubotas.

Bird

 

[Muhammad]

Oh right the 'gray' thing --- I think that was a typo on my part! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I'll add my two cents. My son sells gray market tractors (I own an American model Kubota so I'll try not to be biased). His supplier only buys Yanmar and Mitsubishi for a couple of reasons. One is that they don't have the reverse direction PTO problem and the other is that parts are readily available. The supplier delivers every tractor with an owners manual and parts manual and stocks all the parts since they go through every tractor they get and refurbish it. My point is that this gray market discussion has been around for some time. It seems to me that the "grays" are becoming more main stream every day. I'll reiterate Muhammad's point about the safety items. You should have a PTO shield and ROPS. Both of these items can be handled by a reputable machine shop but any potential purchaser should be aware of it before buying.

 

[Bird]

Muhammad, I'm not even sure the spelling makes any difference; just that I found a lot of interesting information using the "gray" spelling.

Bird

 

[Muhammad]

I get about the same number of results for both, when searching.