Engine pulley inter-change on MTD 660/680?

I'm in the final stages of rebuilding the engine in my MTD model # 13AN682G129. I need to replace the double pulley due to the drive pulley being so worn out that the belt would slip most of the time on it last year unless I put it in high gear and got it moving first. They want ~$65 dollars for the pulley, but I see other pulley that are very close in size that are less than half that price. Onthat I found the deck pulley was the exact same size but the drive pulley is 3/8" bigger. Would this be too big to be able to work?

Bob

That will be fine.

A pulley is "worn out" when a new belt is running on the bottom of the V and not the sides.
I regularly put a belt 1" or so shorter on mowers to compensate for a worn pulley.
Dow side is as the pulley wears the belt runs deeper so the effective diameter is smaller making the mower run a bit slower but no one has ever complained.
The $ 50 to $ 100 saved is far more important than the extra 1- to 30 minutes to mow their lawns.

Yes, the bottom of the pulley is so shiny you can almost see yourself. I didn't think the slightly larger pulley would make much of a difference.

Bob