Does not have to come off completely but dose have to come down a bit to allow the belt to go in.
Be careful, do not stick you head underneath it and pull down lest you think a cauliflower nose looks sexy :laughing:
On most Deere tractors, if you can get the belt around the clutch after unplugging the wire, you dont have to drop the clutch at all.
There are only a few tractors that don't have enough clearance between the clutch and front axle pivot mount, but I dont think yours is one of them.
The trick is to put the belt around the clutch first, then work it between the transmission pulley fan blades down onto the transmission pulley.
Sometimes the length of the belt can make it kinda tight when you try to work it down between the fan blades, but an OEM belt usually will go on with some patience.
Once you have the belt angled between the blades, rotate the pulley to spin it on.
Then install it into the idler pulleys.
Have been doing it in that order here at the shop and in the field for 21 years.
Getting the clutch to slide can be difficult since the factory doesn't apply anti-seize to the crankshaft before they put the clutches on.
The main reason I recommend this method to DIY guys is because if you loosen the clutch bolt and don't torque it properly, the clutch can wallow out the keyway on the crankshaft and/or break the bolt.
And since the bolt is in the crankshaft, the only way to hold the engine still to torque the bolt, is to remove a spark plug and put nylon rope in the cylinder to dead-head the cylinder and keep the engine from rotating.
Some not-so-professional people will just tighten it with an airgun. If I catch any of my guys doing that, I make them take it back loose and torque it manually. Yes, Im anal about that!
Over the years, we have had bolts break and stuff happen due to overtorqued and under-torqued bolts, so that is why we always torque to specs.
If you over-torque it, you will begin to pull the threads and overstress the torsion washer.
If you under-torque it, it can work loose and wallow out the keyway on the crank.
So if you can work the belt on in the way described above, you will save yourself alot of work!