Hi this is Francisco from Uruguay. I am planning to buy a 320 Excavator. They offered me a 320 C Excavator. I don`t know if it is a grey market machine, as i guess 320 CL is more common machine. Is there any important difference between 320 C and 320 CL ? Or are they almost the same ?
I don`t really know what grey market is. I wanted to say that if it is not an appreciated machine.
L means long undercarrage.I don,t think a gray market unit will be a problem.Most of the cat hoes I have bought have been so-called gray market.
Grey market refers to a machine that is built for an off-shore market, not North America. Manuals and parts books as well as all gauges will be in foreign language, eg- Japanese.
Ok thank you so much. So my questio is.....Is CAT 320 C a headache? I mean in case I buy a 320 C no a 320 CL (which is more common) could i have any problem finding parts ? Is the engine of the 320 C different to the CL or are the exactly the same?
Grey market machines are slightly different from local machines, i.e. the exact setup of the engine, pumps, hydraulics and all may vary slightly between North American, European, and Japanese machines. As for the C vs the CL, they are almost the same. I've never seen American 320Cs, only grey market [Japanese] ones. A Japanese 320C and a Japanese 320CL would have identical engines, hydraulics, and whatnot. Just the undercarriage would be different. However, Japanese 320C/CL models would be somewhat different from American 320CL machines.
The question you need to ask yourself is "What will I be doing with the machine"? The long undercarriage has advantages over the standard, hence the popularity of the L version machines. The long undercarriage will obviously give more stability to the machine while digging, a lower ground pressure due to the weight being distributed over more track surface area, better stability while working or transversing slopes - plus it's easier to jump a ditch with a long undercarriage. I really don't see why they offer a shorter undercarriage. If it's a space issue, you still need to have room to swing the upper structure. On a 320, the rear end of the upper structure hangs over the tracks on the L version. Maybe someone else knows why they offer a non-long undercarriage? On the topic of grey market, I think that the Cat's sold in South America are the same as North American models, at least it's that way in Central America.:beatsme
Actually they did not offer that machine....... i am thinking to buy it in an auction. I just want to make some earth movements for one year in my country and sell it. How would be the reselling of the 320 C? Is so much better to buy a 320 CL?
Timmy I have just seen the gauges and actually they are in english altough the machine is made in japan. What about manuals are written in japanese?
Machines that are sold brand new in Uruguay come from CAT Brazil.
I think the Cat excavators up to 320 or higher are all made in Japan, so no need to worry about it's origin being Japan. Someone else may know more about where what size machine is made since Cat has many factories around the world. Check the manuals, if any, that come with the machine. There is a pocket on the back of the seat where the manuals should be. I had a 325DL that was made in Brazil, good machine. It was sold new in North America, if this helps.
my 311cu and a 307b that i had were both jap imports and the manuals and all gauges in english. ive had the 311cu for 4 years with no probs at all , just as easy as a non jap import to get bits for.
ive never seen a 320 non long track here, everyone here runs long track machines way better stability