Heh, I did tear a filter in half over the weekend...
Went to swap out the diesel fuel filter, what should have taken a few min took 30.
Seems like everything else on this new-to-me L185 has been taken care of, but that fuel filter had been there a while. It didn't come off without a protracted battle, the rubber seal had bonded with the base.
Filter wrench just gouged a hole in it, stuck a screwdriver through for some extra leverage and it just peeled off more metal. Ended up taking a pipe wrench to the very top and it finally decided to come free.
I was afraid I was going to break it's bracket, 's not really mounted to sustain a bunch of torque.
But yeah. Replaced with a new Kubota filter, good for another 400ish hours.