MX2350 Project Post

BX2350 Project Post

Hey all, been a longtime lurker and am finally posting some of what I've been working on. Should start with a little background...

I have wanted/needed a tractor for my vineyard work and maintenance since August. I started looking last year and decided on the Kubota BX series but it just wasn't in the budget for a new one. After months of searching I finally found what I was looking for, a one owner BX2350 with front loader and belly mower with documented dealer maintenance for it's entire life. It was a steal and I jumped on it, the previous owner was retiring and selling the place in the country to move to a condo in town.

Now I had done my homework and I was aware of the "error" kubota made regarding plastic body panels and this tractor was part of that lapse in manufacturer judgement. I wasn't jazzed about the plastic parts but everything else about this tractor was too good to pass up. Well, less than a week after delivery my only fear was realized. While doing some dirt work a clod rolled out of the bucket and back down onto the hood. Punched a nice hole right through the top and broke the headlight assembly as well.

I priced a replacement ($250 through Coleman, which is less than 20 miles from me) and decided it was worth it to try to fix. I've searched here and multiple forums and saw lots of talk but never any pictures of fixing a busted hood or fenders so I thought I would give it a go. I wanted to maintain the flexibility and no paint/dents you get with plastic but needed the strength of steel. This is my attempt, I'll try to keep you all updated as I progress.

Here's the link for the full Photostream I tried to post the big ones and they aren't showing up. I'll try to explain.



The Hood doesn't really look that bad here but this was with all of the pieces fit back and puzzled together. I picked up 5-6 pieces off the ground and out of the engine compartment to get to this point. The headlight lens was OK, just cracked straight across from the mounting bracket. I removed the hood with the pieces lightly sanded and tacked in place with superglue. It broke some of the bracket beneath too. Just shook my head when I saw how brittle and flimsy the whole design was. Serious Kubota Fail. I sanded and applied a coat of JB Weld to the back side for support, just step one, bear with me here. I've read a lot of posts that suggested JB weld but this isn't a long term fix. I have no doubt it will eventually de-laminate and that's OK, just needed something to support it while I fix it all. Headlight was an easy fix, probably won't do much more to it at this point. A couple off pics you can really start to see the extent of the damage. Going to take some body work to get it back to looking right. This was the end of the JB Weld, I think I got enough in there to hold everything in place. Sanded this down to 120 grit to prepare for the Bondo applied to the worst area, the dip in the top of the hood and the missing shattered piece at the front edge where the hood meets the headlight assembly. I wet sanded down to 220 Grit, off to prime and prep for the next step.

OK, Here you see where it sits today, or almost anyway. I used a Krylon Fusion paint so that it would stick and I needed something to seal and prime the filled areas. I'm wet sanded this down as well. I could probably have just painted it and left it but as I stated before, this isn't a long term repair in my book and if I'm going to fix it I'm going to do it right, the way Kubota should have made this from the factory. I'm going to attempt something I haven't seen done anywhere and if it works it may be an easy enough fix for other people who've experienced this pain! It should look really cool too which is always a plus. Waiting on UPS to deliver the rest of the stuff I ordered today, I'll keep you updated and thanks for the great info and nice folks on here for giving me a place to share. - Zach

Thanks, so far I have to agree. A beast for it's size. I've gotten more done around the vineyard in the last week than I have in almost a year. It's amazing what a good machine can do! The grand master plan is to carbon fiber the hood. The shipment came in today and they sent the wrong color! I ordered ORANGE but they sent Blue. Can't have that. The replacement was FedExed this afternoon so here I sit...

Carbon fiber is done, I'm going to use a tinted gel coat for the top and I'll epoxy over the paint job to completely protect against any scratches. I'll probably leave the carbon fiber visible in at least some areas, it just looks cool.

Zach

So I tried a tint in the gelcoat. I was going for a light "smoky" look over the orange and black carbon fiber. It turned it black. Here I've got it wet sanded back down, one more gel coat then I'll be ready to prime, sand, and paint. It's been quite the process and I'm learning. Requires patience as well, 24-48 hours of dry time between coats. I decided I wanted to see what it looked like with just the clear resin, no tint added, so I went ahead and wrapped the steering wheel center panel too. No more "fake' carbon fiber insert in the plastic, it's the real thing baby!



Even here you can see it turns much darker. I may try the orange on orange kevlar next time. We will see!

Zach

Here's the final finished pics of the Karbon Kubota! Looks stock, but it's bullet proof.