Hi, my son-in-law is looking at a 2006 Cat308C SR 8 for personal use. He called his local cat dealership and was told that because this machine was imported from Japan, he wouldn't be able to order parts for it. Has anyone ever heard of this? Thanks
Yes we have heard of it before. These machines were built for the Japanese home market ONLY and never intended for export outside that country. However some of them managed to flee captivity and ended up in other parts of the world. The bit regarding "he wouldn't be able to order parts for it" is a new one though. What they are actually saying is "it doesn't appear on our system so we can't identify parts for it" - which is 100% true. The solution is to get hold of the relevant parts manual (which does exist) and go to the dealer armed with a Part Number (or numbers). Their system doesn't give a damn about Serial Numbers when it is given a Part Number. There are also "crossover" documents that link these machines with "World" models to make it easier to obtain parts & service information. If you have a machine Serial Number I can probably identify the appropriate Parts Manual for it.
Thanks for the information, my son-in-law is going to look at it today. I'll let you know if he buys it. Thanks again
From what I can see the machine Serial Number (last 8 characters of the VIN) is most probably CRW followed by 5 digits. If it is then there are English-language Parts Manuals available, like the sample one attached.
they're called grey market.
So CRW is the other grey market Serial Number prefix. The Parts Manual is XEBP8534 for CRW machines with S/No 1200-Up, which includes yours.
Correct and I would never buy one. Just too many headaches.
Well it's not going to be a problem, someone else put a deposit on it right after my son-in-law went to look at it
My first machine was a gray market E70B Cat. Cat store had a difficult time with parts, however the general service filters and such were on the shelf at the local napa store. At this point in my career I personally stay away from grey market machines as CM1995 stated, there can be headaches over simple parts purchases.