OP
Morkai
Bronze Member
Well, I nearly killed the new belt! 
I cleaned the deck, put it back on, and installed the new belt. I pulled out over a dirt spot and idled down to engage the pto, then eased it to full throttle. It sat there and ran fine for a minute then smoke...
It turns out the belt jumped the left idler pulley and was rubbing on the top of the front lift bracket. It shaved/burnt some rubber off the bottom side of the belt. I let it cool down and reinstalled the belt on the pulley and made sure the twist was right, everything looked good. I can't figure out what made it do that.
I slowly tested it back out and mowed half the yard, so it's holding for now.
I cleaned the deck, put it back on, and installed the new belt. I pulled out over a dirt spot and idled down to engage the pto, then eased it to full throttle. It sat there and ran fine for a minute then smoke...
It turns out the belt jumped the left idler pulley and was rubbing on the top of the front lift bracket. It shaved/burnt some rubber off the bottom side of the belt. I let it cool down and reinstalled the belt on the pulley and made sure the twist was right, everything looked good. I can't figure out what made it do that.
I slowly tested it back out and mowed half the yard, so it's holding for now.