The housing arrived this afternoon. Since the plastic guard bolts are rusted I further modified the guard by drilling two holes in the top large enough to pass a socket extension. Using this method I was able to break two of the three housing bolts and removed the housing and stripper. Putting the new housing in place was a little more complicated with the guard in place. The new belt behaved like a Mobius strip but got in installed with minimal foul language.
Getting the deck back on had its own set of challenges and I had to loosen a lock nut on the front arm to get all the deck connections in place.
Once everything was put back together, in place and verified I fired up the engine and engaged the blades. It sounds great and without a lot of noise now from the left side of the deck. I almost can't wait to mow tomorrow morning to see the cut with new blades.
Thanks all for your support and encouragement. I look forward to doing a few more improvements and repairs to my lawn tractor.
