Welcome. I can't answer your questions about the play in the loader, but some good folks will chime in I'm sure. I also have a 1925 and have been pleased with it since 1997. I added the 1530/1630 headlamp assy and the rubber mat. Check if you have the diff lock pedal, as mine was shipped without. Seem NH marketing decided that since the 1725/1925 were "economy" versions of the Boomer series versus the 1530/1630 being deluxe that they would not ship out with a diff lock. Early brochures showed diff lock as standard and the regional rep said lack of the pedal assy was a mistake and told my dealer to order the parts as a warranty item. About 3 mos after purchase I toured the plant in Dublin GA and talked to the production manager and was told that several hundred were built with the pedal assy and after the decision to delete diff lock pedal assy was made that a crew actually went through the storage lot and removed the pedals and they (NH) were trying to decide if or not to make it a dealer/factory option. Some units did slip out with the pedal. My dealer at first was turned down on the warranty claim untill the rep steped up and showed his latest paperwork still showed it as standard. So the dealer got paid for mine but were told "no more". Stupid decision to have a fully set up locking axle and not supply a pedal. Don't know if the D/L was ever added back before the number designation changed to the "TC" series or not. The 1725 axle is not equipped with the D/L internals and the case has 2 raised bosses not drilled/machined, the 1925 has the cross shaft protruding through both sides or the case. If the cross shaft has a roll pin installed, the diff lock was removed after assembly, if no roll pin then it was never installed. Another problem to look for is battery acid damage to the battery mounting area and the radiator paint due to the fan drawing acid liquid/vapor through the rad. Another dumb thing NH went to the trouble of doing was to delete the fuel solenoid and use a cable to kill engine when the tractor was setup for the solenoid anyway. I don't reccomend overiding sefety devices, but I took the detent ball out of the shutof cable as I kept forgeting to push it back in before trying to start it. Without the detent ball/spring the cable self returns to the inward position as there is a return spring on the inj pump. I always worried if I ran over a yellow jacket nest and had to bail out the tractor would continue to run, but since it is HST it should only creep along unless on a hill, but this still could be dangerous. Sorry to ramble for so long , but if you have any questions, just ask.............