Gray Market Korean John Deere 5400

[Midvale]

My father purchased a 5400 from a used equipment dealer a couple of years ago and I have been trying to repair the front hub leaks. When I went to the dealer for parts, I discovered the tractor was assembled in Korea. Evidently John Deere made the engine and sent it to Korea for assembly and sale in Asia. How it got back to the US I do not know. The hubs are different than the US models; for example the seals on the US model are larger at the hubs. Has anyone dealt with these tractors or have any suggestions on how to get parts? The dealer understandable does not have these items and doesn't want to touch it since it is gray market. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.

[GreenWannabe]

You might try taking measurements of both inside and outside diameters of the parts being sealed, then take the old seal to a bearing distributor and see if they can find a match. Also, if it is a grey market tractor, one of the grey market dealers might be able to help.

Good luck

Fred

[Midvale]

Thanks. I've tried all the gray market dealers I could find and none had even heard of one before. I know there must be others as I purchased a Korean Manual off of e-bay a while back. The seller was a manual dealer so I couldn't see who had it before so I thought maybe someone here might have heard of one or have some info.

[Midvale]

My father purchased a 5400 from a used equipment dealer a couple of years ago and I have been trying to repair the front hub leaks. When I went to the dealer for parts, I discovered the tractor was assembled in Korea. Evidently John Deere made the engine and sent it to Korea for assembly and sale in Asia. How it got back to the US I do not know. The hubs are different than the US models; for example the seals on the US model are larger at the hubs. Has anyone dealt with these tractors or have any suggestions on how to get parts? The dealer understandable does not have these items and doesn't want to touch it since it is gray market. Any help or suggestion would be appreciated. I also posted this question in the John Deere area but didn't know if that went to all areas.

[mark777]

Midvale,

I'm sorry man...I've called around and asked about this as I've never heard of a JD built for Korea.

We did have some Yanmar knock offs with Kukje, Korean engines that were imported here....but they were like yours, very difficult to find parts for.

I'm waiting on a couple more emails and one phone call, but it's not looking too good. I'll keep asking and looking around in the meanwhile.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Mark

[LMTC]

I have no idea how you will match up for parts but I do know that Kukje (Korean company that makes Branson) made tractors under contract for JD for some of the Asian market.....but I think some other manufacturers did too. Thus the reason for buying from a reputable dealer with references. There are folks importing and selling the tractors Kukje made under contract to Yanmar at one point, and they suffer the same lack of availability of parts even though they are labeled as "Yanmar".

There are far too many references for the 5400 online for me to think it was one of the models made in Korea for the Asian market. Another thing many unscrupulous importers/resellers do is re-badge tractors. You may want to check the serial # and check it at another JD dealer to determine it really is a 5400. Good luck.

[Midvale]

Thanks for the info about rebranding. I'm pretty sure it is a Asian market 5400. The manual I bought on e-bay is in Korean but is the exact tractor and it is for a John Deere.

[Midvale]

Really appreciate the help. I found a person in Korea that does supply parts there. I'm going to see what I can do with him but I wonder how many other people have these and don't realize it. If you relabel the stickers and repainted it, you'd never know until you had to replace something. I can buy filters for it from my John Deere dealer, but the AC says "KIA" which is a Korean car company. :thanku: :banghead3