Meridian,
You were on the mark. The nut was only finger tight. I followed your instructions; RTV, 200+ torque, etc. Haven't taken a test run yet; ugly weather. But, not a drop of fluid in the pan after several days now. A couple questions though. One, the nut took a 1 11/16 socket but has no built on washer. It looks just like the lower nut in the post(#20) above. Do you think a yard guy could have installed the wrong nut? Second, do you know how much alignment error is acceptable on a Federal Flex Drive Coupling. I called the factory but the guy refused to give an answer. He said, ".003 on direct shaft coupling. But with rubber mounts on the Federal you have much more flex." Still, no number! My tranny is about .015-.020 out at the 8:00 position looking from the rear. That's as close as I can get it without major work. There's no vibration so the .015 may be OK with the rubber bushings.