I see nothing wrong with following the procedure in post #6
I highly recommend it with one exception,
I re torque the heads again after working the engine some.
it is just cheap insurance against a head gasket failure.
some engines need it, others not so much,
but it is not that big of a job and no is cost involved. :beerchug:

IMHO, you run it like she is a "rented mule" !!

The only engine that I was associated with that did not live up to expectations was a 4430 JD,,
we threw a party the weekend after that tractor arrived,,, the 4430 ran the generator for 3 days,,,
That tractor never had the power that we expected,,,

OTOH,, two years earlier, the JD 4630 arrived,,
If had a 7 bottom (18") plow hooked to it,, and the tractor plowed virgin 60 year old pasture for a week.
The tractor pulled so hard, we had to fill the 14" wide front tires full of calcium chloride,, AND add over 2000 pounds of front end weights,,
before the weight, the tractor would plow without the front wheels touching the ground,, you had to steer with the brakes.
The 4630 was ALWAYS a beast,, the 4430 was sold as a disappointment,,,

Run it hard!! :bigthink:

Thanks for additional thoughts. I will definitely plan on following the recommended break-in procedure.

:beerchug:

Beer chug? More like a sigh of relief....I suspect this is the first and last really big tractor project that I will ever undertake! Started last summer already with the blown engine and just got it all done yesterday. Next time (if) the engine goes, the 129 will be for sale...gotta start downsizing sometime anyway! :bigthink:

Downsize? nawww never.
The more equipment you own, the more the equipment owns you :bash2:

LOL! You got it...that's exactly the problem!!! I'm way too sentimental over all this old, 'vintage' equipment. Inherited from my Dad I guess...the old Depression mentality..."don't get rid of that cause you never know when you might need it"

Maybe your older than I think, my folks went through that.
Funny,
my friends/family sometimes mention I should get rid of some of my "stuff" to put it kindly.
But sooner than later, come by needing some "fixin" or "a whazzit" and I dig it up for them, and they are happy,happy.
Appreciation is my pay,and the guy in the shaving mirror, smiles @ me every morning, ---- I sorta like that.:beerchug:

Love the "to put it kindly" part.....I know what you mean. On occasion I find myself thinking of something I could really use, and knew I (once) had - then realize that I threw it out a few years ago already, thereby attesting to the value of my Dad's philosophy - except that at some point you start to run out of space for "stuff" OR...and this just happened to me yesterday...came across something I bought awhile back and now have absolutely NO idea why I bought it or what I intended to do with it! Memory doesn't work like it used to.

As to age, let's just say I'm old enough to have grown up with stuff like view master slides, magic 8-ball (remember those?), slinky, foto-electric football, Mattel creeple people, candy (syrup) in those wax bottles...."nik-l-nips" and bazooka bubble gum, etc. When I got an 8-track player installed in one of my first cars, thought it was the lap of luxury :)

Or an under dash ARC record player, wipers were vacuum and "AC" was a current in the wall plug, that supplied the little TV to watch Elvis for the 1st time on the Ed Sullivan show.
Our social media was the 6 person party line.:biggrin2: