Thanks I will give it a try. Since my original thread I have also found out: If I slowly disengage the mower blades it does not pop off the left pulley. That is with the deck blade engage arm. It seems I have too much (sloppy) slack in the new belt.
Another contributing factor is I am missing the left pulley shield. Could that missing shield cause the belt to jump off the left pulley when quickly disengaging the deck belt? Thanks for your help.