Sounds like the bearings in the pulley might be going bad.

 

No, everything is smooth as butter with the belt off

 

I was just able to take a look while the blade was engaged. Brand new belt and it is pretty floppy on the longest run between pulleys. Al least 2inchehes of movement. OEM JD Belt $55

 

I would pull the belt and buy shorter at the local car parts store.

 

Have you contacted your local JD dealer? They most likely offer pick up and delivery for a reasonable fee.

 

Will check, but I think I may have figured it out. I just releveled my deck per the owners manual. the front of the deck should be 1/4 inch lower than the rear of the deck. My deck was opposite for some reason. I never checked it from the Lowes delivery. Hopefully this will align things a little better.

 

The dealer will pick it up as part of the warranty agreement

 

I was just able to take a look while the blade was engaged. Brand new belt and it is pretty floppy on the longest run between pulleys. Al least 2inchehes of movement. OEM JD Belt $55

OEM belts will hold up the best. I would not recommend an automotive belt to replace these.

As far as the floppy belt syndrome, this is normal, especially on the slack side of the belt drive.

Hot belt? It's rubbing on something, most likely a guide or routing issue. Double check your routing, details matter! If it's rubbing on something, there should be evidence on the belt and/or the offending guide. The covers over the spindle pulleys are guides too, I'd pull them off when installing the new belt, and check everyting out while running before reinstalling.

The tension is adjustable, but the adjustment is in the PTO arm that connects the clutch pulley to the PTO lever on the tractor. I would not mess with it unless you have trouble with it slipping off under load.