OMG Gray market lifts! Just had my first encounter with one of these. The company I work for tried to sell one to my customer. I realized the machine was gray market after research. It had no brakes if the engine shut off as the accumulator pump did not work. I suggested we take it back. Also, changing the 35 year old rad hoses would prove impossible as no parts manuals existed for this truck. My company asked me to "keep quiet" and just let them buy it,but eventually the brakes failed and they refused to pay for the truck. There are many Toyota lifts out there, that cannot be repaired as no part numbers exist to fix them.
Thanks Partsguy5. Good point BB.
They're also a HUGE liability issue. As it was explained to me once from an OSHA inspector- we- as professionals are required to advise our clients that these grey market lifts are not approved for use in the US market & could be held liable if there's an injury.
Usually brakes and other drive train parts will be the same. Where you run into trouble is electronics, mast and hydraulics. You might check with Atlas Lift Truck out of Chicago. The factory will not help when it comes to gray market as they have no information on these trucks at least that was the case in the past. One of the clues to if it is truly a gray market is if the data plate is in another language. Used to work for a Toyota dealer.