I have been cutting grass with this (approximately 3/4 acre) for the past 5 year with this machine. It is a 42" cut and It has a hydrostatic transmission and It has given me problems a couple of times that I thought the tranny was about to give up the ghost. Someone on here told me to put at high speed and hold break on while i held it in forward for about 15 secs and then in reverse for about 15 secs. Did this and it worked for awhile...I also attempted to clean out where the brake disc is and that worked for a while. Now it moves very slowly in forward and reverse. When I put it in forward, seems to make a mild noise down below the engine or above the deck...

I am about to make a decision to junk it and get something else or make an attempt to maybe change the drive belt or pulley.

Will have to be a few weeks as I just had surgery on my foot. Part of me says screw it and go buy something else and part of me says fix it....

Any ideas or guidance.....How hard is it going to be to change this belt or pulley? I took the deck off in the past and replaced a mandrel a couple of years ago. How does doing this compare with dropping the deck and changing the mandrel? I realize I would have to remove the deck to do this also.