It is entirely possible that the "ticking" is due to a bent valve pushrod. This might have happened because one of the engine valves was "stuck" open when you cranked the engine. With a valve stuck open, the pushrod can fall out of place when the camshaft moves but the stuck valve does not move the rocker arm as it would if the valve were free. Sometimes the pushrod falls completely out of place and that cylinder becomes "a dead misfire". Sometimes the pushrod is "caught" on the edge of the rocker arm when the piston comes up and strikes the stuck valve (which does not happen when the valves are free) which bends the pushrod. A lot of times the bending is severe enough that the cylinder becomes a dead misfire even if the pushrod falls back into its cup on the rocker arm. I supposed that some slight bending could cause a noise due to too much clearance in that valve position (because any bending effectively shortens the length of the pushrod which increases valve lash). I would suggest checking the valve clearance at the earliest opportunity. If you find a valve with much more clearance than the OEM spec, you need to remove the pushrod for that valve and roll it across a smooth flat surface to detect any "wobbling" that will result from a bent pushrod. A straight pushrod will roll easily and freely if placed on a smooth inclined surface. A bent pushrod will wobble or maybe not roll at all on the same surface. Replace bent pushrods with new. The valve that sticks is most often the intake valve. Sticking occurs because of varnish formation on the valve stem where it is exposed to the air/fuel mixture flowing into the cylinder. This varnish is formed in part because the gasoline in the intake draft washes the lubricating oil off the valve stem leaving only a sticky residue which can "glue" the valve stem to the valve guide long enough to allow the damaging chain of events to take place. To help guard against sticking valves which lead to this condition, add some Marvel Mystery Oil or other brand of "upper cylinder lubricant" to the gasoline. This will leave a light coat of oil on the intake valve stem where it is exposed in the intake passage of the cylinder head. This little bit of oil helps to keep the lower end of the valve stem "wet" and sticking is not likely to occur.

Mownie.
Great suggestion, That is where I will look first, Interestingly enough on this engine when it only had around 18 hours on it, it had a cylinder fail due to a push rod issue. It was taken care of under warrenty and I don't even recall which cylinder it happened in. It would seem logical though that this issue has been brewing for some time.

Still no time to tear into this. Like normal the equipment you really needs seems to have issues when you need it most. Yesterday my 2 month old Blizzard plow wouldn't stay up after a few hours use. The safest place to get these fixed immediatly on a Sunday was a 60 mile drive to Jackson. After a few hours of trouble shooting they replaced the entire truck side wiring harness.

Worked great until I drove it all the way home, then on the very first pass, it locked up in the upright position, totally dead. After some head scratching wire testing and phone calls, (I have the home numbers of the people who fix these in Jackson, their fault not mine) I finally figured out that a hidden fuse had blown. I am assuming that was cause by the loose wire I found on the solinode. Evne better I didn't even get it out of the garage and it was stuck in the upright position. That was a wire crimp that had come appart on one of the magnetic coils on the valve body.

It worked great this morning for 4 hours so hopefully I'm in the clear for a while, but yeah I haven't had time to look at the Deere.

Dan