"Older machines with hour meters ticking along" I wish, those are new machines to me. My ol' M600....(the 743's can call him "Daddy") was pre-hour meter. I think there was a sun-dial option. And contrary to popular belief, the current term "roll cage" wasn't an OSHA safety idea for Roll Over Protection or ROPS. It was originally developed, on the M600's, and called a D-SOUP. The dinosaurs, being cold blooded would often times sit on warm skid steers to help raise their body temperatures. If an operator couldn't get away quickly enough, well, those were the first claims filed with early workers comp. So they chiseled out the first stages of something resembling a cab called "D-SOUP" aka "Dinosaur-Set-On-U-Protection" Through the ages the D-SOUP has evolved into a roll cage and now what we commonly refer to as the cab. So, the next time you flick on the cab A/C, remember the ones running the early Bobcats that were sat on by dinosaurs to give you this luxury.
And, my other machine only has a couple thousand hours on it. Zero in the last 6 months, so I better get back to priming the wheels. -Scott