07/30/2026
A topic I see come up more than id like to see is a person trying to decide what product to buy between several examples made and sold by a few different companies. To be clear Im not talking about reselling of varioys companies parts bought wholesale and resold by several vendors.
Anyway seeing these posts remindsme of how things have changed in the business environment today that affects end users and the original producers.
This post is about many products that have been "Copied", rippedoff, bootleged etc.
A new product is introduced and brought to the IH community by one IH vendor and soon several other companies copied, tried to copy the same part and make it available. This is something that has bothered several vendors I know of, myself included, because a few of their products have been ripped off and copied. Some by multiple vendors even 🤯
Lets discuss the detrimental aspect that these copy cat companies do to the IH Community we love so much when they knowingly do this. Its sad to see so many companies copying another companies hard work just to eliminate having to buy from them only to make an additional few bucks in profit.🤬 Its especially disrespectful to do so whrn the company bringing out a copy has bought wholesale from the original producing company.
When a company allocates resources in order to copy a product and sell it, one of the biggest things it does is harm the community as a whole. Allow me to explain. When a company takes their money and valuable time to copy a product thats already in existence and can be purchased it robs the community. It is an especially sh*tty 💩 to make this move because thoes SAME resources and time could have been used to create a new product thats not currently offered in the community to help us all keep our sweet Internationals functioning and making memories. The community benefits by now having two different products needed for our vehicles. The OG IH businesses back in the day recall when it was a point of fact that us IH owners had different vehicles, and old school morals and values just like thoes people that built these fine rigs for us at the factory plants. We as vendors were proud to not be like other Vehicle specific vendors. Thoes 7-10 of us manufacturing vendors back in the earlie years after IH stopped making vehicles all refused to be like Jeep, Bronco or Toyota companie (to name a few big examples). We didnt copy but chose to buy from one another as we were friends helping to preserve these fine rigs. If one of us upset the other, we talked it out and made ✌🏼 peace. We set aside any personal differences or egos and maintained that business bond and sense of showing the world we were different, better, and more proud to represent America and America's traits that made us a special nation. I bought from you when you made something or reproduced a part no one else did and you bought my product that I brought to market to help the customers improve their IH vehicles and keep them on the road for all to enjoy seeing. Sometimes we even collaborated or bought an end users part they could not or did not want to scale up and offer the masses. It was a glorious time and one im proud to have been involved in first hand in the 1990s early 2000's.
If a product was made that overlapped or was used in the same place, there were fundamentals differences, features, looks and added benifits that were desirable. Shackles fir instance. We all had our own style and look and it wasn't copying because this was just basic flat steel not a complex part at all. We never copied a unique product just to hurt the other companys sales or gain a few bucks more, nor did we engage in purposeful undercutting and or price fixing tactics. We were better than that and didnt need to do thoes shameful things to make a buck. It was always friendly competition in the act itself of coming out with the next new product that helped the vehicle owners (customers). It was not about see i made the same thing as you.
Today the landscape of IH Specialty manufacturers and even shops that may make one part looks all to similar to the Toyota, Bronco, Jeep companies that all have near identical products. One comes out with it and soon, often within months or the same year, the others have the same product. Often times they are all but impossible to differentiate to the end user.
That said I can appreciate when a similar product comes out later that takes a concept that has stayed the same for a while and adds value and function by including additional features, benifits, refinements and addresses the requests from the consumer that they have been asking for or mentioning would be cool if it also did this ". At times even suggestions to the original producer that have fallen on deft ears. If a company doesn't keep up with trends, product refinement by trying to improve their product then its inevitable that someone else will undertake the task of making something that addresses the public demand and desire. Thats on the company for not listening to its customers.
Also on occassions there is reasons to manufacture a clone. Availability, or inability to purchase the parts from the original maker for whatever reason. The original maker has gone out of business, the original had design flaws that were a safety concern, etc etc.
Will copying ever stop now that its been going on? Once a wealthy owned cutthroat company copied directly the first few products of the other companies and publicly stated there was "no patent on it because I checked". Then it hsppened :( ....many of the rest of the IH vendor community seemed to think this was morally okay and threw tradition out the window for the oppertunity to make a buck. Some companies even started up and their first product was a copy of another companies.
In closing I say this:
💥TO my fellow IH Vendors that may see this; Just because you can, doesnt mean you should. I get that being h copied is the ultimate formof flattery.... but just say NO TO THIS PRACTICE. Compliment the original maker. Be that better company that refers a person to another company's part ... dont just copy directly. We still have a chance to maintain a different look to outsiders and show them IH business people are not sheep and follow suite to how other brand specific companies choose to act. Be different, be unique, be that 1 of a kind for the betterment of the IH Community. :)
💥 To the enthusiasts;
Please consider supporting the original IH vendor that makes a product, especially if your just buying that one product. I get if your buying a whole bunch of items and trying to one-stop shop. Its more spendy to pay separate S&H to buy the one item from a different place but sometimes supporting a smaller guy making something will help that guy go on to make way cooler things that you were a small part of.
Please feel free to discuss your views and opinions, that's why posted this. It's good to openly address topics like this.
