[AT] yanmar

[Larry & Barb Dotson]

Charlie,
My brother was a dealer for Yanmar back in the 70's and 80's. John Deere
approached Yanmar to build their small diesel tractors. Their agreement was
that they would make only John Deere for US and would not compete with their
own line, although they continued to produce their own brand for Japan as
well os other countries. As these tractors were traded in, there were so
many that importers began bringing shipping containers of them to the US.
These became known as Grey market tractors. They also have all Japanese
writing on the decals and safety instructions. Many were equippd with rice
tires with lugs about 3 inches tall.  they had no dealer network to service
parts, although several independents do supply parts (one in Dayton Ohio
near me). I haven't needed anything for mine except the key switch when I
broke it off while getting on  the tractor. I went to John Deere and bought
one for a JD 650 and it was the same.

Larry Dotson