Hiya,
Glad to hear your back up and running I agree, don't baby it because the run on the dyno has pretty much run it in. To get a HP reading it was run at full load.
Since you live in the north, I would use anti gel every tank. Anti-gel can be used year round, it won't affect the fuel in the warmer months. I buy my off road Diesel in bulk so my fuel always has conditioner/anti gel because one bulk load lasts me a little over a full year. (The road trucks get fuel while they are out so we add conditioner/anti gel as needed)
What you should be aware of, is that while the risk of "gelling" is as your dealer states, pretty low, if your operating it in temps below freezing you may "cloud" the fuel without enough anti gel. Clouding the fuel is the first stage of gelling and it's actually the stage that causes the most problems. Clouding is when the paraffin in suspension congeals to the point where it becomes visible making the fuel opaque. When this happens, the filters trap the now solid paraffin plugging the small passages that the fuel normally passes through. at this point the engine will lose power and most likely smoke white but idle fine. The fuel pump will now try to pull fuel through the filter and it will eventually draw enough of a siphon that the paraffin will pack down in the filters as wax. Once a filter is plugged, the engine will shut off. Spin on filters will now need to be replaced as the wax will bond to the filter media fibers, cartridge filters depending on media type can be cleaned and the fuel in the tank/lines will need to be treated with a "Diesel rescue" type product specifically made for dissolving solid paraffin as anti-gel does not suspend paraffin, it only prevents it from falling out of suspension as temps fall.
OK, enough typing, there is more eggnog to drink...
Tom
Afterthought, if ULSD is mandated in your area, you will have to add a higher percentage of anti-gel as ULSD clouds at higher temps compared to LSD or the good old unregulated s5000.
I know I may get flamed for this but if you add Wal Mart 2 stroke outboard motor oil at 180-1 ratio to your Diesel, you will get a bit more power and lower your fuel per hour rate. (It's an over the road trucker trick to squeak more miles out of a tank on the older rigs, works on older Diesel pickups without converters as well)
Glad you have your tractor back.:thumbsup:
