I fought a problem with my JD deck for most of a summer. Belt slipping, get burned because of that. Did all the adjustments to spec ect ect. including new JD belt from dealer($ ouch) still was having problems. then one day while cleaning off all the clipping on top of the deck with it suspended up I noticed a hair line crack in the powder coat, when in mowing position or doing adj. the deck was down so never saw it. spindle mount area was cracked 2/3 of the way around. Trusty mig welder solved that problem works almost like new again. Poor thing, which I bought used really gets a work out on the back 2+ acres as it gets tall quick out there in the spring- lot of broad leaf weeds with tough stems. I burn up about 4+ gallons of fuel on the whole 3 acres ( 5 hours worth of cutting. ) Ya I need a much bigger deck than that 42" one to cut the time down. I do have 60" finish deck on the compact unit (25 hp) but it runs out umph back there also and still take 5 hours. Its like mowing a hay field. Picked up a 60" brush hog, got to get a pto shaft yet. That might work better as it doesn't try chop everything up so fine.
