ok - water strainer replaced - cavitation/water hammer 95% gone. Am happy about that. Will accept new performance behavior of this model of pump - just may take a while to get used to. I find this pump much quieter than the old model however likely has something to do with flex tube i added to inlet - always just had on outlet.
Off to hardware store to buy pressure gauge but am comfortable I have not increased pressure. In my trial and error I made sure to net out on adjustments that were lower than factory but admittedly dont know where i ended up in terms of a number. Will be nice to know and re-adjust to factory levels.
Unless something drastic happens this coming weekend I'm going to call this thread done and solved. A heartfelt thank you to all who chimed in to help my thought process and trouble shooting path. Has been a while since I've been on the forum but will never forget what a helpful group of supporters there are here. Thanks all. J
