Hi rayjay; sorry to hear about your belt issue, I have an '87 JD 318 which I love but was thinking of selling and getting a GX335, other than its diet of drive belts how do you like the GX? I was wondering about the belt driving the trans, I also have a sears ys4500 with a belt drive and while there is no comparison to a JD if the ground is flat I'd think there shouldn't be an issue. Could there be an alignment issue with the pulleys? Have you used the GX for any plowing?