Dented Hood

[swatter]

Today I was cleaning with my BX25D and a log hit the hood. Now I have a dented hood and cracked headlight. I am debating to live with the dent. Claim it on kabobta insurance or just pay for repairs out of my pocket. What would you do?

 

[swatter]

Sorry forgot a picture.

 

[WaxMan]

Thats a shame, you're going to have to repair or replace it If you want to tractor to remain in good shape, some people will say its just a tractor. I guess if you where one of those you would not even post about it.
Do you have a loan on it from Kubota and they made you buy the insurance? If so I would put it on the insurance. That is what your paying for.It's still going to cost you the 250.00 deductible.
Call Kubota get a price on a new hood and light, I believe it comes painted. Then you will know which way to go. See how close it is to the deductible.

I think the amount of insurance you pay is in the contract and they can't raise the rate without changing the contract. Unlike homeowners insurance they will raise your rate or cancel your insurance if too many claims.

Kubota wants to make sure the tractor "they own" remands in good shape.
But then again I have no idea what I'm talking about.
You should post the question on this thread. I'm sure they will have all the answers for you.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...95-protect-your-equipment-ktac-insurance.html

 

[George2615]

I dented the hood on one of my previous tractors. I took the hood off, turned it over, set it on plywood and hammered it back out as best I could with a rubber mallet and small ball pien hammer. Then skim coated it with body filler. Sanded, primed, and repainted. Good as new. I was lucky and didn't have to replace a headlight.
If you have ever done body work it's not too hard to repair. If not, you can live with it or use your insurance.

 

[Soundguy]

wood block and a dolley / body hammers.. work it out without stretching the metal. a lil filler, some sanding, some glazing putty, some more sanding.. and then keep sanding till you are at 2000. primer it. resand 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2000
then shoot the hood. should take a pint.

that's a sunday project.

 

[swatter]

I am not the guy who can paint and knock out the dent. I talked with my wife about getting a new hood and head light. She told me she was sorry that it happened. She said just leave the dent it gives the tractor character. I guess I will leave it for now.

 

[Soundguy]

I am not the guy who can paint and knock out the dent.

give it a shot.

you are starting with a dented hood.. can't get worse..

 

[ray66v]

a lil filler, some sanding, some glazing putty, some more sanding.. and then keep sanding till you are at 2000. primer it. resand 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2000
then shoot the hood. should take a pint.

Not sure where you learned that, but it's not the way it is normally done.

For dry hand sanding, body filler needs nothing finer than 220 grit before primer. Most technicians will never go finer than 150 grit sand paper on Bondo. And, primer needs nothing finer than 500 grit before paint. Many guys stop at 400 grit. Using anything finer than those for dry sanding, is unnecessary.

For wet sanding of primer, prior to paint, use 600 grit.

1000, 2000 grit sand papers are only used in body shops, for wet sanding clear coats, prior to buffing. (At least the ones who haven't figured out how to put the paint on nice enough to avoid all that).

If you need to use paper as fine as you suggested to do a good job, something is wrong.

We don't sand primer with 220, then sand it again with 360, then sand again with 400, then sand again with 600, and finer, then paint. If you are doing that, you are doing a lot of extra work. And that may be where you are going wrong.

The correct way for primer would be, say you need/want to sand it with 220 grit. Sand with 220. And, after you finish, reprime it. If you put on a nice smooth coat or two, you will only need to sand that with 400, or 500 grit dry, or 600 wet, and you can go right to paint.

We do it this way because, you can never be sure you removed every single 220 scratch no matter what you do. And since you can't paint over 220 scratches, you always reprime it, to fill them.

 

[Soundguy]

i learned it at a body shop that did mostly corvettes, but did others too.. was there about 12 years. ( circa mid 70's early 80's )

You do what you want. my body work looks great under paint!

Our boss always told us the easiest way to find a flaw in body work was to paint it.

 

[WaxMan]

i learned it at a body shop that did mostly corvettes, but did others too.. was there about 12 years. ( circa mid 70's early 80's )

You do what you want. my body work looks great under paint!

Our boss always told us the easiest way to find a flaw in body work was to paint it.

Sound guy is right , for a corvette with lacquer and other cars from that time period that is the way it was done, Nothing wrong with doing that. That is how it was done. Nowadays body shops use enamel base coat and clear coat. It fills more and you don't have to take it down as much. That is just the way it is.

Thing is if you just leave the dent and say oh well it's a tractor . Next you back into something and bend a fender or scrape the side. Oh well its a tractor.

Before you know it you got a piece of **** for a tractor, forget getting a good price for it when you want to trade it in for the New BX28D or BX30D

Get the price of the hood and light, either fix it or pay the 250 and get it fixed, you may like the New BX30D in 2018 Forget the bondo sandpaper and paint.
Unbolt the dented hood and bolt on the new one done, still factory.

Sell the dented one on ebay for 100 bucks

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm thinking you will have to prep and paint even if you do buy a new hood?

 

[PoorPlowboy]

I'm thinking you will have to prep and paint even if you do buy a new hood?

Not on Kubota. They ship ready to bolt on.

 

[dsmiley]

It would make me sick to look at it so I would make it go away.

 

[Yandaddy1110]

Maybe a third option would be to find a local backyard body shop and have them do it. Tell em it dont have to be perfect or timely. Kubota paint from the dealer is excellent, at least for the painting that I have done.

Fortunatly a tractor well taken care of always pays when it comes time to sell.

 

[ray66v]

Sound guy is right , for a corvette with lacquer and other cars from that time period that is the way it was done, Nothing wrong with doing that. That is how it was done. Nowadays body shops use enamel base coat and clear coat. It fills more and you don't have to take it down as much. That is just the way it is.

My father and I, owned and operated a large body repair shop, for well over 20 years, and did I the work everyday for 34 years.

I worked on thousands of high end cars, including hundreds of Corvettes. And had a personal reputation for being able to do very high quality work.

Among other vehicles, I have been factory trained to work on corvettes, and certified by General Motors.

I also have auto body repair certifications from ICAR, ASE, Sherwin Williams & Martin Senior, PPG, and Dupont.

In the 70's, and 80's, I repaired vehicles with and lacquer everyday. I have also sprayed hundreds of gallons of acrylic enamel, and I have mixed, and sprayed approximately 1,000 of gallons of urethane enamel base coats, and equally that much urethane clear coat.

I have repaired in excess of 20,000 vehicles, in my career.

Because of my experience, I was often asked to work by Sherwin Williams, to work directly with their chemists, in the testing and development of new products, and writing procedures for their training manuals.

No published training manual, published factory repair procedure, or paint company repair procedure manual, I have ever seen, remotely suggested doing the work the way it was described by Soundguy.

During my career, I worked with dozens of different technicians. The Company that purchased our shop, already had almost 50 employees, at multiple locations. I worked for them for several years before retiring. None of them did the work as described by Soundguy.

So, when I say that is not how the work is normally done, I am saying that with certainty.

 

[repete]

After putting in excess of 5000 hours on the old L2550, I have gotten to the point where I fix what impacts its ability to drive, pull, lift or dig. Anything beyond that gets repaired if it is "just hanging on"..

I know that flies in the face of most people on this site but it is a tool and spending $500 on a hood would not happen. Besides, my tractor would look totally stupid with a bright new orange part.

Turn it over and straighten as much as possible, light appears to be functional so that would stay.

My 2 cents.

Gregg

 

[WaxMan]

You definitely got me beat, You have a very impressive resume and a long career as a professional auto body repairman ray66v:thumbsup:

I don't think soundguy meant it to be as a step by step, but in general on a tractor forum. I was referring to the seventies since that is the time period he claimed to do the work.
In the seventies when using lacquers I do know you just can't cover up the coarse scratches with primer, the lacquer primer and paint will shrink overtime and scratches will return to the surface. I never went coarser or finer then 400 on the last primer sanding before lacquer. I was not going to comment on all the grits he and you used and make it a big deal it was just in general.

You must admit as the pro that you are and the experience you have, paint and materials have come a long, long way since the seventies. As far as I know I don't even think lacquer is used anymore? Maybe you know when your shop started doing little or no more lacquer.

I didn't mean to make it sound that he was right and you were wrong. Sorry if it came off like that, I am glad you have clarified that.

It would be different for you to repair but the point I was making time is money also and just replacing the hood would be better then repairing since it comes already painted.

Unless the tractor owner has experience then it's a different matter. The dent is right on the crease and lines of the hood an inexperienced person will not spend the time to repair that crease correctly. Then you have the fact when you open the hood you would have to paint that too. If you left all the hammer marks on the inside and painted over it. It would look like crap. So a correct repair would be both sides of the hood done. Yes, Kubota makes some good paint in the can but it's not hard like the factory. IMO
I know you and I will spot that kind of repair and paint job in a sec. The only thing worse on a nicely kept tractor then the dent is a halfass body repair job. I think we all can agree on that.

 

[Pepsiboy]

Well, if it like my BX 2350 it has a plastic hood. You could try to pound it back out with a rubber hammer and see what happens. Picture doesn't look too bad. If you are lucky, plastic won't crack. Good luck.

 

[WaxMan]

After putting in excess of 5000 hours on the old L2550, I have gotten to the point where I fix what impacts its ability to drive, pull, lift or dig. Anything beyond that gets repaired if it is "just hanging on"..

I know that flies in the face of most people on this site but it is a tool and spending $500 on a hood would not happen. Besides, my tractor would look totally stupid with a bright new orange part.

Turn it over and straighten as much as possible, light appears to be functional so that would stay.

My 2 cents.

Gregg

Yes that would look kind of funny for you having a shinny new hood, What you would do in your case I would agree with you.
My first Kubota was like that B7200, sometimes when I think about how much time and money I would save if I just would of kept that.

 

[Coyote machine]

I'd live with it for now and if it's really bugging you after a while see what your part is going to be on claiming it on the insurance. After all, you're already paying out for the insurance, and if it will make it showroom new for $250 or so, that's the fee for fixing the problem vs paying out of pocket for the new hood without insurance.