[bandit67]

Experience makes the do-it-yourself tasks easier - meaning the more you work on things, the less intimidated you get, and the more smoothly things go. My dad used to rebuild entire cars when he was in his 20's. I was pretty handy at that age, but no where near as handy as my dad.

But as I've gotten older, I've realized that if you don't rush yourself too much, you can do just about anything. And if you're a bit unsure, get some books or get on the internet and do some research. And the other thing to keep in mind is that these things were put together by human hands, and not the hands of brain surgeons, so if it could be put together once, it can be done again.

It's also nice owning machines for a while, as you become more and more familiar with them as time goes by and you do repairs on them. There was a time when I thought I'd never be able to accomplish some of the things that I've done in the last 10 years, and I expect to continue to learn. But I have found that repairs get less intimidating and easier, and, maybe the best thing of all is that you get to own all sorts of neat tools, and who doesn't love tools.

"I came across this 1998 Kubota B21 TLB this summer, and I bought it as an interesting repair project."

Now that is quite the understatement, but you did a heck of a job dfkrug!