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Strictly by the book, you need to take the handhole cover off the bottom of your torque tube, just behind the clutch so you can see the flywheel. Practically, that doesn't always work and you have to resort to horse sense. There is a very fine line on the flywheel that runs from front to back, and is marked, at the front of the flywheel, DC on one side of the line, 1-4 on the other. You want to get your engine as near the top on the compression stroke on #1 as you can get it, then align that line (not as poetic an exercise as it sounds) with the nub on the back of the flywheel cover, a pretty obvious thing to see. Problem is that the line on the flywheel is often obscured by rust or an accumulation of crud, and hard to find. The alternative is to get t#1 as close as you can to TDC looking through the plug hole. Some folks use a screwdriver through that hole. With the blade resting on top of the piston, use the fan blade to turn the engine (ignition off and coil wire disconnected for safety, please!) to the point where the handle of the screwdriver quits moving. It's a little more accurate to use the mark on the flywheel, but the screwdriver method is quite adequate. It wouldn't be off more than a couple of degrees if at all. I usually advise getting it to TDC any way you can, and while you've got it there, clean off/degrease a spot on your timing cover and another on your crank pulley, and paint a small mark on each so that they line up at TDC. Going forward, that saves crawling under the tractor to find TDC on the flywheel. All you have to do is pull the plug or look at the valves (depending on what you're doing) to make sure you're on the right stroke. Couldn't hurt while it's at TDC to go up through the hand hole and find that line and mark the front end of it with a dab of paint, too.
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