Now that I'm at my keyboard and not my phone, I'll see if I can better explain the situation.
The manual I found for the 2135 indicates a 1/2" x 59" belt. When I compared it to my old belt, it was a bit bigger than my old belt, which presumably had stretched. So I tried the 57" and at first, it seemed to have a pretty good fit on the pulleys. Despite this, I would have to slow way down for it to actually cut (where as before I could go at a pretty brisk pace and it would cut beautifully) indicating to me that the blade pulleys were not being turned. I could also hear a difference in the mower when it was cutting and when it wasn't. So I have two questions:
1) Is there an accepted practice of pre-stretching these belts a bit? I think the 56" is what I need, but it would be very tight so a little pre-stretching seems to be the way to fix it, especially considering how much stretch the 57" got after 45 mins of mowing.
2) Could a bad PTO clutch/unit be an issue here? Further clarification of my thinking: when it hits grass, it doesn't cut well. As opposed to a slipping belt, could it be a PTO clutch on its way out, as in not enough power to keep the blades moving? Looks like they're only about $120 on ebay, so that's not going to be devastating news. I also noticed what appears to be grease zercs (sp?) on the blade pulleys, which I didn't realize were there at first. I don't know what kind of maintenance this mower got prior to my acquisition, but they appear to move freely without a belt on them, so I don't suspect that to be an issue. Perhaps a new idler pulley and spring is in order, they do seem a little wonky.
Thanks in advance, I'm trying to be thorough, but those 2 questions are the most pertinent I can think of. I'll see if I can find any identifying marks/numbers or anything, but I looked it over pretty good already so I'm not hopeful.
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