Friend broke my GC1710

[plowhog]

If it was mine, I would knock it out myself. but if you want a professional job, take it to a body shop and get an estimate. You should be able to be made whole for a whole lot less than any $1000.

That's great advice. I will remove the hood and take it to a body shop for evaluation. I'm pretty sure the light bezel needs replacement, but I don't mind doing the legwork on that and any lights needing replacement. It's a .. tractor .. so it doesn't have to be perfect. But I'm tired of looking at the dent.

 

[Diggin It]

If nothing else, dent the other side to match.








;-)

 

[Doofy]

I'm away from the tractor now, but I was able to download this picture taken the day of the damage.

As a thank you, I gave each person a $100 Amazon gift card and we took them out to a steak dinner. Total about $1,000. If a new hood is $1,000+, it cost me over 2 grand to get about 5 cords of split wood.

Now I'm wondering, as someone suggested, if a body shop could do a reasonable repair? If I could come up with a headlight assembly?

View attachment 649971

That is some expensive firewood!

 

[Doofy]

I've had bigger scratches on my eyeball. A real body shop should be able to fix you right up. A Dealer will probably have to source a new light assembly.

 

[airbiscuit]

A local Technical College Auto Body program might do it as a project - post Coronavirus. Or ask on facebook if any knows a body shop worker who wants a side job.

 

[s219]

Shoot, you could pop that out yourself and then touchup the paint. Doesn't have to be perfect, it's a tractor and you are likely to damage it again somehow. So I'd fix the dent the best I could and replace the headlight. The grill looks to be out of whack but I assume that would be easy to fix.

I dropped a log on the hood of my L3200 -- it rolled backward when I was dumping the load. Left a dent less noticeable than yours, and didn't break the paint. But the headlight was a goner. I replaced the headlight for about $90 and left the dent alone.

 

[airbiscuit]

If your local high school has a good Tech Ed Teacher, they might be willing to do it for a side job.

 

[shooterdon]

I would try fixing it as well...not a lot of cost to do it yourself. It is not a Mercedes and even if you are not happy with your attempt you can take it to a shop.

Find some YouTube videos

 

[k0ua]

I would try fixing it as well...not a lot of cost to do it yourself. It is not a Mercedes and even if you are not happy with your attempt you can take it to a shop.

Find some YouTube videos

Thats a good point. You can watch some you tube videos of autobody dent removal, and harbor freight has cheap autobody tools or you can make you own out of wood. I would do it myself, and I am a pretty good rattle can blend painter. I have painted plenty of spots and blended on my tractor and you have to look really hard to find it. it takes some practice. Would be good to practice on something else at first. But if you mess up. take it to a pro.

 

[hosspuller]

For sure, any competent auto body shop can fix that and blend the paint to match or repaint the whole thing. Years ago, a buddy owned an auto body shop. The cars that came in were much more creased and dented than your hood.