I don't have lots of experience in these (just head gaskets)When I did my first HG on one of these, the Honda dealer said they just replace the engine. . . These things remind me of being more like a small Civic engine than like most things a small engine tech would ever need to work on -unless of course they work in the AG side of things. I'm thinking you could have one of several issues. Something times the ignition as well. BTW, I don't recall an inspection port or timing access for the belt(a Honda tech could prove me wrong as it has been awhile) which means you lift the engine out and pull the cover. Hopefully someone who had a similar problem can chime in or you can follow Canguy's lead & get specs on the valve lash. The valve cover is under the airbox btw Good luck

A couple years ago JD made the belts stronger. I doubt anyone else would offer such a belt as they are not a high volume item. The belt is designed to be the fuse in the system, so it does break before something more expensive else gets bent, like the deck shell. Honestly, mowing a 4-acre field with rocks is beyond what an LT155 with a Freedom was designed to do. An LT155 is a 1.5 acre max machine, and the Freedom 42 is for manicured lawns only. Just not the best fit there. The only downside of the Freedom 42 is that early on JD and dealers didn't do the best job of qualifying what customers should or shouldn't have them. There may be some of those first gen LT's starting to die out there now, so keep your eyes open for a used 38" deck from a LT133 or LT155. That might work well for you.

Thanks for the response. Are you talking about the "Timing Belt" - which is the belt that you cannot see. Or are you talking about the Air Conditioner and Alternator Belts, which are the ones you can see. If you are talking about the Timing Belt, do we have to take out all the parts again, to readjust the tension? THANKS

The only information that I've got is for the 1992, 2.3 L engine in the Ford Topaz. (It's probably the same basic layout as for the pickup truck.) So, with this warning, here's the information for the car engine. There should be two timing marks: one on the crank grear and one on the cam gear. These are punch or drill point marks. Both gears are keyed to their shafts. There is an inside and outside face for the gears. The timing marks face to the outside. The chain will have to be placed on the gears before sliding the gears onto the shafts. This may not be easy since one or both of these gears may be press fits. If you encounter a press fit, just take it easy and press each part a little at time while keeping the chain aligned. The object is to avoid damage to the chain. The keyway on the cam shaft points toward the crank. The key on the crank points straight up (and not toward the cam shaft). After the chain and sprockets are in place, the timing marks (on the sprockets) should point toward each other and be in-line with the center-line of the cam shaft and crank. (The crank key will not be on this line.) Slowly rotate the engine by hand to check for interference with a valve. If all seems ok, then check the rotor position in the distributor. It should be ok since it was not removed, but here's the check anyway. With piston no.1 at top-dead-center (TDC) and on the compression stroke (both intake and exahust valves closed), the rotor in the distriburor should point toward the electrode (in the cap) for No. 1 sparkplug. Hopefully, none of the pistons hit a valve when the chain broke. While the timing chain cover is off, it might be a good idea to flush out the oil pan to remove any debris therein, like broken chain parts. Tiny pieces probably won't cause a problem so long as these are too large to pass by the oil pump intake screen. However, larger pieces may get bounced about and caught between close passing moving parts. You can use used engine oil as a flush fluid, or a mild cleaner such as kerosene.