Tiller Stopping

[AaronW]

Hi everybody, got a tiller question:

My tractor is a 125 model, and I've got the tiller for it. Last winter (which only now seems to be over, in Big Sky Country) I rebuilt the front pto clutch. That seems good to go, shuts on and off like it's supposed to, spins free when clutch lever is back, engages when lever is forward.

However, I'm trying to start tilling my garden, and it takes barely any resistance at all, for the the front pulley to stop spinning, so it's almost like resistance is causing the clutch to disengage, or at least act like it.

Here's what I've checked:

-With clutch disengaged, I can spin the tiller tines by hand, and it turns the front pulley. With clutch engaged, I can't turn the tines.

-I've tried messing around with the long belt tension. I reached the point on belt tightness where the problem started getting worse, so it doesn't seem like that belt being too loose is the problem. However, the long belt from the front over the mule drive to the back, is pretty tight, even with the tensioner back all the way out to flush with the tightener nut. Is it possible that something is wonky here, and that I'm getting too much friction to begin with? The belt I'm using came with the tiller.

-I checked belt tightness on the tiller unit itself, seems ok to me, can spin tiller tines pretty easily by hand, with clutch disengaged,by turning that belt.

So that's what I know. Anybody got ideas?

Aaron

Edit: Oh, and I should have mentioned that the ground isn't rock hard or anything. If I lower the tines so I'm only going a few inches into the dirt, it still stops the tines when I start to move forward.