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The (not so short story) is,the drive belt falls off a lot. After several years of ownership (I purchased it brand new), The drive belt started to fall off. It would happen IMMEDIATELY UPON STARTING the engine for the first time after sitting for a couple weeks between mows. I can tell when it is going to happen because just as the engine starts, as it starts to rev up to "choke" RPMs,I hear what sounds like a one rough "BUCK" coming from the bottom of the deck as if some object is being chopped up. But the blade isn't even turning. The mower is just sitting there with the engine running. I engage the blade to mow, pull the drive lever. NO Drive.

The first few times it happened, I would take it apart and put the belt back on. PITA, but not difficult. But then it became more frequent. Each time, always at the beginning of a mow and with one "chunk" sound. At the end of last mowing season, I replaced the belt. It worked GREAT for the rest of 2022 (maybe 6 (Autumn) mows of 8000 sf regular lawn), and 4 mows so far this 2023 season (New Hampshire) and now the new belt fell off again.

It happens more frequently after sitting for a couple of weeks after a "short-cut" mow of high, lush grass. Could this long lush grass that is clumping up underneath the deck be causing this? I haven't been in the habit of cleaning the underside of the mower after every use.

I am going to take it apart tomorrow and put the belt back on. Is there a means of checking for alignment issues.
Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Clean underside of deck spotless, mow lawn when grass is dry. replace mower blades with new OEM Honda part # above & check belt for replacement, let us know how it goes, thanks Mark

mechanic mark said:

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Clean underside of deck spotless, mow lawn when grass is dry. replace mower blades with new OEM Honda part # above & check belt for replacement, let us know how it goes, thanks Mark

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Hello Mark, Thanks for the reply. Reporting back.
Late Wednesday night I took it apart. It was surprisingly clean. A thin coating on the front and right underside of the deck. No clumps anywhere, Certainly not above the blade brake and clutch assembly. and only a few small sprigs of brown grass blades in the back behind the transmission.

The belt still looked like new. Not stretched, glazed, chipped or cracked in any way I spun both pulleys around as best I didn't see anything of concern with them. I don't know how to check for alignment, but I would think if it was an alignment issue, it wouldn't be intermittent. It would happen every time I mowed.

Anyway, I put the belt back on and mowed for 2 hours on Thursday noonIsh then let it sit. Friday night, I moved it back to the shed until next mow. Before I started it, I turned it over to check for grass. Very little. It looked just the way I left it after I put the belt on. My scrape marks were still there.

I started it up, it made the "buck/jump" sound as I described in my first post and then revved up normally. The belt did not come off. It drove just fine all the way to the back shed. I'll try cleaning it after each use and see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for your help