Never took off the spring.With Belt on with about 3 inches of belt deflection, the same as not having no tension on any pulleys. Also the brake rod is off. I still have considerable tension on clutch spring, I think it is binding up for sure if the spring is supposed to be relaxed when I release the clutch. Do I understand what you are saying?
The spring is what puts tension on the belt.
Without the belt the spring should pull the clutch lever all the way to it's stop ( if it has one ) by which time the spring should have almost no tension on it.
When you put your foot on the clutch, you stretch the spring which takes the tension off the belt .
When you take your foot off the pedal the spring pulls the lever back till the belt is tight enough to drive the mower.
So without the belt and spring on you check that the pedal has full movement and it is not fouling on something.
In the fully up position without the belt on the spring should be either slack or just tight enough to prevent it falling off.
If there is nothing preventing the pedal travelling it's full range and your belt is slack then it is not routed properly and my guess is you are missing the front idler pulley or the second pulley on the tranny.
As for how slack the belt should be with the brake on, if you grab the belt and push it towards the engine pulley it must be able to go freely forward till it touches the belt keepers & stay there when you let it go.
The burning question is why did you decide to replace the belt in the first place ?
Are you sure all 6 pulleys are in place ?
