I feel for you Rick! Sounds kinda' like mine this year. For some reason, I've started having belt trouble. I'm thinking it must be stretched. I have replaced it once but, all of a sudden, it started getting pinched between a pulley and a bracket. I cleared that and re-adjusted everything. A few minutes later (literally), it started squealing and this time, the belt had come off the pulley! Took it apart and got the belt back on, adjusted everything again, and fired it back up. You guessed it, minutes later it started squealing again. This time, I didn't use the self propel, just pushed it manually. I finished the mowing and put it away. I'll mess with it again before I mow next time. The wife is trying to get me to go to a rider, but that's not really feasible with our yard. I'll put a new belt on it one day this week and se what happens. Good luck, Rick!
.
.