2007 Kubota BX24 Hydrostatic Drive Abrupt Stop in Reverse

Anyone who owns a BX24 (or the "50-series" like BX1850/2350) knows of the issue these tractors had new from the factory regarding the abrupt stop when letting up on the reverse pedal. Mine is no exception. Recently I decided to do more investigating to see if anyone has come up with a solution, as Kubota never did issue a recall. I ran across a guy's posting on the internet that showed that he extended the lever arm that the damping gas strut acts on, which he said did solve the problem. I decided to give it a try. This first photo shows the original arrangement, with the gas strut attaching point being on the rod that runs back to the transmission from the foot pedal.

2007 Kubota BX24 Little Surprise and Fuel Filter Replacement

A neighbor needed my help with my tractor a couple of weeks ago so I started it up and began the drive. I got 20 feet and the tractor basically died. Hmm, that's never happened before. It was about 30 degrees outside so I wondered if water was in the fuel lines. I first climbed under the tractor to see if the electric fuel pump was working ok. It seemed a little sluggish, so I popped a fuel line off the outlet of the pump and fuel pumped out fine. Next step was to check the fuel filter on the engine. That was an ordeal. In order to get pliers onto the spring clamps on the hoses, the front cowling had to come off. In order to remove the cowling, the hood had to come off. Why, Kubota? Just why? Anyway, after excavating the fuel filter, I pulled the inlet line off and turned the key on to start the pump. Here's what came out:

2007 Kubota BX24 Plastic Hood And Cowling Crack Repair Using Hot Staple Welding

My Kubota hood was cracked when I bought the tractor in 2017. I finally decided to do something about it and bought a $24 kit on Amazon to do hot staple welding. Below is a photo of the cracked area. It is at the hood latch. Maybe something dropped on the hood and cracked it, who knows.