Thanks for the replies. I sent that pic and a couple others to Fredricks and they seemed sure its a faulty valve cover gasket installation. They think the mechanic likely let it slip when installing it. He told me to try to tighten it and that might fix it, but is also sending me a new gasket. He is also throwing in all the filters needed for the first service. I thought that was pretty good customer service!
I've put just 10 hours on the tractor since I've had it. I read that the machine determines hours based on how hard its working; not just time. I never knew that anything did that. I'm sure I've had it running more than 10 hours, but much of it was at low rpm and very little load on it.
On another subject, I hooked up the cutter and then was gonna hook up the pto last. I found it was too short to be attached that way with the over run clutch. I wanted to see how it worked without the clutch, so I pulled it off and hooked up the shaft direct. I just used it around the yard on flat ground, so I was never in any danger with it. It seems to me that with the powershift you could get buy without the clutch. Put the powershift in N and the pto has no effect on the tractor. I can see where it could be dangerous on a model without powershift.
So I later unhooked it and put the clutch on to see how it worked. The driveline made a lot more noise and it made so much noise when I turned off the pto that I thought I had sheared a pin on the cutter. Has anyone else noticed excessive noise when using the clutch, especially when shutting off the pto? Does anyone run your cutter without the over run clutch?
We had discussed the possibility of running the tractor at lower rpm and using the 2nd pto gear. I don't think that's an option for me with this setup. At 2200 rpm and the pto in first gear, it didn't have enough cutting power to easily make it thru thick stuff. And 2200 just doesn't seem like the engine is working very hard; I wouldn't wanta run it any slower with a cutter attached. I'm also questioning the math used in determining the rpm needed to get 540 pto. That cutter may have been turning 540, but it sure seemed slower to me. I don't know any way to check it.
Thanks for the help!