Pump is back in , works fine with no leaks now, but the large hose size in relation to the mounting neck took a fair amount of compression on those clamps. They were OEM clamps and took more torque than any of the modern Chinesium or American types.
I did remove the battery box, which helped provide some working room. I think if I were to do this again, I'd install studs in the aluminum block rather than risk pulling or cross threading the bolts it was assembled with. I did make sure that the bolt threads were clean, and I used anti-seize on them.
Yeah, it's dirty, but it works for a living (I clean it when I put it away in the fall, and before I use it in the spring). Heat index here is 102 and we just had a tropical storm come through, so it was sweaty work with saturation level humidity .
Thanks to Cub Cadet Specialties for the help with hoses.
