Engines generally won't give any trouble; there are very few manufacturers
and they are all mostly bullet proof.
Cutter decks are something else: sounds like the belt is getting chewed up
on the pulleys. My experience has been that the first thing that goes are
the cutter deck pulley bearings: you or someone else can replace them with
some difficulty: but my experience is that they never last as long as the
originals.
You really should try and do the work yourself: it's very basic mechanical
stuff.
Once cutter deck bearings and the deck itself starts to go it's better to
replace the lot.
Maybe you should try someone other than the Authorised agent; they haven't
done well have they? Think they live off the average punters inability to
get to grips with basic mechanical stuff. A little ditty a friend of mine
last year had an old Mountfield Empress that wouldn't start and took it to
an agent they fixed it at a cost of £150: i. a second hand working machine
wouldn't have cost more than half of that; I'm sure that a new replacement
power unit could have been found for a lot less.
My only experience was with the old Westwood brand cheap, cheerful and
pretty reliable: I used to have a 4 acre garden and grass cutting was a 6 to
9 hour job every week: replaced cutter deck bearings over a 9 year period
twice.
MTD is a US brand; if I had to buy now think I'd go with Countax or Honda.
Maybe someone else has more experience of these things than me; perhaps the
time has come to cut your losses.
Roddy


"Geo" wrote in message
...
Our club MTD mower is now due for its 5th repair this year by the
Authorised
Dealer (cutter drive belts).
Getting really Pd off with this - any reliablity experiences with MTD or
other
manufacturers of ride-on (or even walk behind). The engine has given no
trouble
but the double-cutter twisted V belt is lasting for less than one cut...

Geo