Hi folks,
Have had the new-to-me G1800S now for a month.
Now that I'm caught up on the deferred maintenance, and I don't have any (known) mechanical issues left to deal with, I started to notice appearance issues - broken headlight unit, missing center pad on the steering wheel, broken rear reflectors.
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I spent money on bling, but here's how it happened.
I'm used to driving and maintaining old, OLD vehicles. Not counting the beater 1985 Chevy Cavalier (which I blew up in 1998), the newest vehicle I've ever owned is the one I'm driving now - my 1977 Dodge M880 (the BUFF). So, I'm conditioned to having to really beat the bushes to find NOS parts. [Just spent $1500 on NOS sheet metal for it in July, but that's another story...]. I drove a 1937 Plymouth P4 coupe for many years...
I started surfing the local Kubota dealership sites. Pretty cool that you can search their actual inventory...with prices! I saw that headlight unit for $98, and thinking, how is it that these 25-30 year old NOS parts are still available? And, $98 sounded cheap to me, compared to the $80 I paid for a used one 8 years ago...So, I didn't waste any time in running down to Messick's (45 miles from my house) and getting these parts into my hot little hands. BTW, the interchange on the headlight unit is T1400, T1600, T1700, G1800, G1900, and G2000.
Then, I woke up this morning, and wondered if the packages might have date codes on them. Here are the labels from the packages:
I'm wondering if the numbers in the upper right are date codes. Do you think the date code on the Lens is 2019? And on the other two, 2021? Sure looks that way to me. The headlight has "9K29" stamped on the back side, in silver paint. I did not see anything like a date code on the other parts.
So, is Kubota still making trim parts for 30-year old machines? Granted they'd be fast movers, because that plastic stuff is so prone to breakage. And, do you think they're really "MADE IN JAPAN"? The reflectors have "IMASEN JAPAN" cast into the plastic lenses. You'd think even Kubota would be outsourcing stuff like this to China.
-Paul
PS, after further consideration, I would bet that date code painted on the back of the headlight unit is misprinted. Should be 9K19, not 9K29. That would properly put it in the package labeled with a 2019 date code. Postal date codes are commonly misprinted on mail. Somebody forgets to advance the date on the stamping tool, or advances it too far without realizing it.
I still can't get over the idea that Kubota is currently manufacturing parts for machines that they haven't sold for at least 17 years (2005 was the last year for the T1700). Incredible.
Have had the new-to-me G1800S now for a month.
Now that I'm caught up on the deferred maintenance, and I don't have any (known) mechanical issues left to deal with, I started to notice appearance issues - broken headlight unit, missing center pad on the steering wheel, broken rear reflectors.
I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I spent money on bling, but here's how it happened.
I'm used to driving and maintaining old, OLD vehicles. Not counting the beater 1985 Chevy Cavalier (which I blew up in 1998), the newest vehicle I've ever owned is the one I'm driving now - my 1977 Dodge M880 (the BUFF). So, I'm conditioned to having to really beat the bushes to find NOS parts. [Just spent $1500 on NOS sheet metal for it in July, but that's another story...]. I drove a 1937 Plymouth P4 coupe for many years...
I started surfing the local Kubota dealership sites. Pretty cool that you can search their actual inventory...with prices! I saw that headlight unit for $98, and thinking, how is it that these 25-30 year old NOS parts are still available? And, $98 sounded cheap to me, compared to the $80 I paid for a used one 8 years ago...So, I didn't waste any time in running down to Messick's (45 miles from my house) and getting these parts into my hot little hands. BTW, the interchange on the headlight unit is T1400, T1600, T1700, G1800, G1900, and G2000.
Then, I woke up this morning, and wondered if the packages might have date codes on them. Here are the labels from the packages:
I'm wondering if the numbers in the upper right are date codes. Do you think the date code on the Lens is 2019? And on the other two, 2021? Sure looks that way to me. The headlight has "9K29" stamped on the back side, in silver paint. I did not see anything like a date code on the other parts.
So, is Kubota still making trim parts for 30-year old machines? Granted they'd be fast movers, because that plastic stuff is so prone to breakage. And, do you think they're really "MADE IN JAPAN"? The reflectors have "IMASEN JAPAN" cast into the plastic lenses. You'd think even Kubota would be outsourcing stuff like this to China.
-Paul
PS, after further consideration, I would bet that date code painted on the back of the headlight unit is misprinted. Should be 9K19, not 9K29. That would properly put it in the package labeled with a 2019 date code. Postal date codes are commonly misprinted on mail. Somebody forgets to advance the date on the stamping tool, or advances it too far without realizing it.
I still can't get over the idea that Kubota is currently manufacturing parts for machines that they haven't sold for at least 17 years (2005 was the last year for the T1700). Incredible.
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