I did not post back on this issue as it resolved itself as soon as it hit 33 degrees. No more issue.
No belt issue no glazing and no slipping.
It had been getting slowly worse with the colder temperatures and I am now pretty certain that it is in the spool valve (SV ) assembly.
Whether it is internal to the SV or is external in the linkage I am not positive but I think that it is internal.
I am pretty certain that the mill uses an open center hydraulic system and not a closed center. I know when I got the mill and had an early-on hydraulic issue, along with all the other issues, I contacted the tech support folks and the individual I talked to was not able to answer the question as to open or closed. I was left to resolve that hydraulic issue on my own like others. It is very dependent upon who you get on the phone.
I need to look at what can go wrong in the SV that would cause the problems I had. At one point I could get one SV to run the log loader but only if I pushed the dog clamp SV at the same time in the opposite direction. Almost as if it was diverting the fluid. Normally only one SV on each valve bank can be used at a time because of the prioritization of the system. Same thing was true of other SV's on the SV bank. Saw Head would only move up or down if another SV was actuated in the opposite direction.
As to the blade breakage yes it happens and if run long enough every blade will break. They should not break in the weld in every instance and not at the frequency that these have.
As to getting 7 sharpenings or more.
Well I have 11 "brand new" blades that have never made it to the sharpener even once as they have broken before they have had a chance to get dull. All in the weld. I won't openly speculate, as I have no proof, as to why I got 24 included blades with the mill but I have my suspicions.
As to the roller guides, the manufacturer states to set the flange 1/8" back and many people including you, mountain lake, say use 1/4". I measured to verify where mine are at and I am at 7/32 so 1/32 less from the 1/4" that you recommend. Close but I can adjust them to the full 1/4".