Hitachi EX120 "Grey Market Machine" Parts Help

I am looking at a Hitachi EX120 grey market machine and was trying to figure out the parts access for these machines. I'm talking about the 120s, 120-2, and maybe the 120-3 machines. The one I'm looking at is a "Legacy" machine which I understand is a true grey market. First, are the 12Nxxx S/N machines all grey market? Are the parts numbers all different? Were they built with different parts throughout? If not, can't we just refer to a US marketed machine parts book to find an interchanging part? Do serious Hitachi dealers track & find grey market parts? My dealer won't even talk about a grey market machine.

Another question is, are many of the grey market machines bought in Japan/China sold with zero'd out hour meters. I've heard of many machines imported with false hours.

Anyway, those with grey market experience, I'd appreciate your experience and help.

Thanks - Bill

Hi bdward, Back in the day, about 1998, when the Asian economy crashed, I bought a grey market Hitachi 200, with low hours. It turned out to be an excellent machine. It came with a parts book in both Japan and USA letters/numbers. It was basically the same machine as the one built for USA sales. The dealers always shun a machine not purchased through them, especially if they didn't sell it. We would usually source parts through aftermarket vendors. The parts are usually good quality and 25 to 50% savings. I'm not sure on the newer machines out there these days. Hope this helps a little.

I have a 95 ex120-2. There was a bit of a learning curve for parts. You must have a parts manual! I prefer to buy online but the local john deere dealer (no local hitachi) parts men have gone out of their way to help me. Sometimes it's been a struggle but I've always gotten the parts I needed. These are great hoes and they are common enough you can get parts.

Hello to all here.
I am a new member here, but have read in this forum for quite some time.
I have the Hitachi EX120-2 and have had to order several parts. Not hard to find and fairly cheap... (well at least they are cheap as compared to the local dealer prices)

Mud Logger said:

{snip} ...We would usually source parts through aftermarket vendors. The parts are usually good quality and 25 to 50% savings.

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I'm pretty new to this; I bought an older EX120 (pretty sure it's not a dash-anything) and all markings are in Japanese. I'm told it's grey-market but I can't trace its lineage. Now I'm starting to need parts; there are no Hitachi dealers in the US and John Deere locally is uninterested. Can you give me some advice about finding aftermarket parts? Thanks very much.

I've learned a bit since I originally made this post. I've owned a -2, -3, and a -5 machine. Now there are several options to find parts. Don't bother with a dealer, if they can't plug a computer into it they're not interested. Sad state of modern mechanics and machines. There are operators, technical, workshop, and parts manuals available for the -2, -3, and -5 machines. The cheapest option is to buy a download version however finding the proper chapter is a REAL pain. I have the -3 printed books and bought a download version of the -5. Once you study the Japanese mind long enough you can understand their logic in the books layout but that takes time. I scrolled through the -5 download page by page and printed every "contents" page and noted the page number of the pdf file. I then use those contents to begin my search in the long (1500+ pages) pdf file to find what I was looking for. Keep your eye on ebay for a printed version, you might get lucky. As for parts, the JDparts website has a "Hitachi" section for the excavators. In that list they include EX100's and EX120-5 machines as well as many others. Many if not most of the -5 parts will fit earlier models. John Deere will give you a price and access to those parts but the cost is usually high. I generally take the part number and do a "Google" search. It's amazing how much is digitized now and available. I've found every part I've needed by chasing Google searches. There are Asian suppliers now offering parts, like fridayparts.com. Some Hitachi parts numbers are the same as JD part numbers. Anyway, hope this helps. I wouldn't be afraid of grey market machines, some of their parts are unique but not many. The only one that's going to be a challenge for me is the pattern changer on the -5 I have. That is truly Asian only application. Good Luck - Bill

Thanks Bill. Unfortunately my rig is a non-dash model; that is, it pre-dates the -2. Worse, since everything is in Japanese, it pretty surely was never intended for the US market (p'haps that's true of all grey market machines) but also being old some of the identifying information is missing (no model number on the engine and thus unknown) or a mystery: the ID on the cab has a serial # that is unknown in the US (1EW-...) and the model # likewise (KX120-2m). So while most parts may be identical, which ones aren't? I won't know until I find they don't match! As for finding manuals, I'm still searching. I especially need the Operator's Manual for the EX120 (no dash).