cub cadet LTX1045 drive belt

I was mowing the other day and my drive belt kicked off and melted my trans fan off. I bought a new fan and belt. I'm having a bear getting the new belt on. I now got it on but it seems oftly tight. I put an MTD genuine 954-04165 on. It seems like the clutch pedal won't be doing anything. When I held the old and new together they seemed right length. I just think if I start it up it would move and not have a clutch. I think the belt is a hair too short. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The clutch works on the front ( lower) belt.
Take it back off again and the front belt.
Make sure the sliding part of pulley they both sit on goes up & down freely and is not binding.
Spin the input shaft ( big pulley on top of fan ) it should spin freely.
Check the two front mounting bolts on the transaxle are tight and the transaxel is sitting square to the frame and parallel to the ground.