Please do as Mark asked.
And consider this.
Virtually until the take over of Cub Cadet and the universal adoption of the Cub system across the entire range MTD moved the entire deck to tension the belt and thus drive the blades.
This works backwards to what most would think.
The springs are always pulling the deck back to tighten the belt.
The "engagement" lever pulls against these springs to move the deck forward when the blades are to be dissengaged.
Because every thing is always being pulled back by the deck springs, all of the linages flog out at the back of the holes.
The final outcome of this is the deck does not move far enough forward to get enough slack to allow the belt to slip so the blades do not stop.
Because the blades do not stop they wear out the brake pads which makes things worse.
Final nail in the coffin is owners who decide the MTD belts are too expensive and fit car fan belts which are designed not to slip .
By virtue of me being an independent repair shop. I get a lot of really old mowers to repair and regularly have to try 1/2 dozen belts in fractions sizes to find one that will compensate for the wear.
I have just done an old Yardman and we ended up fitting a belt 1.75" longer than the original.
2" longer and the blades slipped under heavy load , 1.5" too long and the blades would not disengage .
The alternative was $ 260 in replacement linkages and another $ 240 worth of welding to parts that were either too dear to replace, or not available ( these are OZ $ not US $ )