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I have a belt drive 48" mower that is very solid, but the drive is lacking. I have a hilly lot around a pond and this mower won't do the climbing. I purchased new belts, but it wasn't an improvement. The drive, when you feather out the grips, bounces a bit until it catches. It does a fair amount of slipping. There is a tensioning spring that compresses the 2 tensioners to provide friction. I tried drilling an additional hole so the spring was tighter. That didn't seem to help either. I have tried other adjustments with the linkage, but made no progress and there is a balance between the drive and braking system that you need to maintain.

I am including a picture of the drive mechanism with the hopes that someone here has owned or serviced one. Is it a lost cause? The mower is in great shape with exception to the drive.

Have you got this fixed yet?

I haven't fixed it. Still has the same problem.

I have studied the picture and the one thing that jumps out at me is what seems like a very small wear pattern on the belt. Looks like it does not have the correct pitch to have enough contact with the pulleys. Is the belt OEM or just something from the auto parts store? Remember John Deere is very picky on its parts.