If the engine pulley is behind the drive pulleys then the left side always packs it in way before the right
2 reasons for this
1) the deck tosses more debris on the left side so it runs hotter with resulting thinner oil
2) the slcak side of the belt is the left pulley so the belt tends to slip a lot on the left pulley
This means that the left side turns slower with thinner oil so you get a lot more wear on the internals on the left side
To counter this most good quality newer ZTR's run the drive belt in a V shape rather than the original triangle so the left pulley has more contact between the belt & the pulley.
A lot are also going to plain belts or raw edge belts to get more friction ( thus drive ) between the pulleys & the belts .
I expect eventually we will see drives with bigger pulleys on the "pull" side and a slightly smaller pulley on the "push " side
So if this was a cheap used mower there is a good reason for the price reduction.
New pump-motor units are an easy drop in repair, just time consuming .