This truck was sold as only having 300 not rebuilt or refurbished just a 300hr truck.It smacked of fraud so it was finally picked up and to be used as a rental till further notice

with GE controls you can program the old hours back into the control with 2 settings
ive installed meters on lindes and some you are able to set the orig hours back on

shells you dont see too much (3 shells and a pea)
3 card monte is more popular (or was)
you wont see that kind of stuff in times square much anymore
but you may get yelled at by a black israelite, lol

no laws I know of. It is very common to reset to zero on a rebuild and inform customer of the change. Also in some electric changing the control card resets the meter. We include a sticker with controller change date and hours at change on the controller to address this.

Several dealers, both large organizations in Georgia make it a practice to zero out the hourmeters at the time of delivery of a used, "reconditioned" forklift. The customer is advised that it is better so the dealership can keep better records of usage in "their" operation. Yep, some customers bite on that but haven't figured out that the dealer personnel they have just partnered with can't add or subtract yet even with the help of computers, electronic calulators, fingers and toes. Yes, some of these folks haven't been to NYC and watched the corner shell games (Justinn knows the offical name of it - I have CRS now).

Choi

What if the truck was sold to have less hrs than what was one the truck?You buy a truck with 300 hrs thats got 8500 hrs. This truck was picked up and put in rental fleet till futher notice.

Hourmeters are changed all the time. If you order a new dash from a cat dealer it will come with 0 hours on it.

It needs 8500 more so if I run if forward it put more on right?Maybe Ill drive up and see you. How many tanks of propane would that take?

just lift the drive tires off the ground and run it in reverse so the hours tick backwards lol
maybe itll work out better for you than it did for ferris
well maybe not lol

What if the truck was sold to have less hrs than what was one the truck?

I would seriously doubt if there is anything illegal about changing an hour meter. Is there any other equipment that is subject to smashed hour meters, whether intentional or not, than forklift trucks?
It would seem that if there is a problem with changing hour meters that when you buy a new one that you would have to certify what the make model and serial # of the truck that it was it was installed on and register that with some governmental authority.
Like all things, it is a matter of trust combined with knowledge. When you see an ad in E bay or Craigs List that says a truck is a 1993 and you know that the truck was discontinued in 1985-is that illegal or just an oversight by an uninformed seller.
How about the guy in NY that advertises that "if you bought the same used truck" that he is offering from a "dealer" that the "dealer" would charge you X, which is more than list price of a new one. Unfortunately, those who tell an uninformed customer what they want to hear thrive in an economy like this. It's too bad.

The truck in question is a c5000 teir 2 All I know that was changed was dash panel it reads 8230 behind rest of truck according to record of when it was changed

First, let me say, I ain't no attorney (IANA), and maybe for legal questions you should consult a real attorney.
Forklifts do not come under "motor vehicle" laws, but do come under manufactured goods laws.
Just like ANYTHING you sell or purchase, there is a responsibility that what you sell, is actually what you said it was, so there is fraud if someone -intentionally- changes the hour meter, and claims in the sale that the truck is younger/newer than it really is. How much that fraud was worth, decides if the fraud reaches a level of "felony", and that varies state to state.
And the big "if"; if it can be proved to have been done intentionally to fool the buyer, not just as "a year ago the hour meter broke and was replaced, we used to have a sticker telling us how many hours the old meter had, but it got painted over".
There is no rule as far as I can see on itsdf.org saying an hour meter is a -required- item on a powered industrial truck.
As far as "do nothing", why don't you just make a sticker and put it on the truck near the hour meter. I just write a plus sign and the old hour meter reading (so if you ever see a forklift with a foil sticker near the hour meter that says "+2345" you can know I saw that unit, changed the hour meter or dash panel and that truck had 2345 hours when I changed the hour meter.
Have you heard about the "newest" idea about that, since the hour meter reading in new trucks are held in the computers, when ever you change (swap out) an computer, the other computers on the truck (including the dash panel's computer) all "learn" the highest hour meter reading the instant you power up, so swapping an ecu from an old truck will advance the hour meter in the new truck to match that older truck.