Not meaning to sound preachy, but that is why we are always begging people to post the full mower model numbers from the tag under the seat, although simplicity put it on the side of the frame from memory.
Simplicity used to put tags on their decks as well.
<<<< I will remember that in the future...
Nice piece of welding but now that you have painted it I am really going to annoy you.
A weld is a casting and castings are weaker than wrought steel so you will need to put a brace over the welded area.
The heat from the weld will also have softened that side so I would run a strip of the same size steel full length on the outside .
I use old blades as I have tons of them and a small forge to flatten the curves & bends.
<<<< Sounds like a good idea. Most of the steel was still there... I wanted to grind it smooth and fill it in, so it is not sharp to tear up a new belt.
Now for some worse news, it looks very much like your bottom oil seal is gone on the engine.
So untill you have time to pull the engine & replace it keep an eagle eye on your oil level and the sooner the better, there is not much oil in a mower engine to start with and they all rely on splash to lube the bore piston pin & valves.
<<<< Yea trying to get her to keep an eye on the oil level. From what I could tell. The oil was leaking from the valve cover. I took care of that, but I did see the drip in the picture.
I don't have an IPL for that deck but it looks like it hangs from one side so check the lift / height adjuster to see if it could be connected to both the outside & inside of the mechanism on the mower.
If it can then refit it connected to the inside which should push the rear a little to the left.
<<<<It only has a lift cable on one side. It looks like it is only used to lift the mower for transport. But I will look next time a see if there is an attachment on the other side for a second one.