Mystery. Utterly baffled.

[MossRoad]

...Yesterday I had to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank....

You moved something or something bent without your knowledge or the part you replaced was different than the one you took out, etc....

What was the process to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank?

 

[N80]

You moved something or something bent without your knowledge or the part you replaced was different than the one you took out, etc....

What was the process to replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the fuel tank?

All this happened before I messed with the tank. But, the tank does not have to be moved or loosened to replace the sending unit. I have removed the tank in the past but again, that was a year ago and everything has work fine until now.

 

[ovrszd]

I'll stick with my assessment.

 

[MossRoad]

Then something shifted or as mentioned, the hinges got bent.

I am a maintenance technician in a factory. When I PM machines, I have to take a lot of covers/guards off. Many times, they won't go back on. We've found we have to very loosely install ALL cover/guard bolts first, then go back and tighten them down. If you tighten a couple first, chances are you won't get the last ones to start. So, check your hinges for bent. If they aren't bent, loosen your tank and adjust it and see if you can get the hood to close properly, then go back and tighten the tank down.

 

[N80]

Problem solved. Mystery remains. As recommended, I just bent the hinge pins which are part of the tractor body. The hinge holes are welded onto the hood and cannot be adjusted in any way. The pins and the flange they are on is quite beefy and were somewhat hard to bend but after a few tries I got everything lined up right and the hood now closes properly.

The mystery is how did this all get out of alignment? There is no way those pins got bent out of shape without major damage to the hood. Anyway, everything on the tractor is fine so at this point I'm not worried about how it got messed up.