Sorry I had miss where you posted that but I see that now as I do reread long threads. That K-Force B195404062 being only 77" will be a belt I will need to source from another vendor then as my mower and customer's mowers uses the 77-1/2. Here if I put on a 77" my mower it will shake itself to pieces as it overloads the 15.5 hp OHV engine. Here the MTDs can be very picky about belt sizes. I spend more on them than any other mower when I have belt related issues. Just something I learned to deal with. It is also getting worse as now I am finding many of the IPL have the wrong belt sizes listed especially for the older mowers. This I keep a record of for a particular customer in my files.
I supposedly you have already checked the Z bend on the cable at the engagement lever and that engagement lever isn't bent out of place.
The drilling a new mounting location for the spring hole is an option, just make sure you can hook the spring in and that it doesn't infer with the belt. Another option would be create a new mounting point for the engagement cable mount. Don't know if yours currently welded in place or bolted; of course, bolted version would much easier to relocate. If welded then it depends on your skills at metal fabrication and welding. Hopefully you know what I referring to as to the cable mount.
Knowing Kevlar belts can fairly expensive at times but you also try a cheaper 76" black belt but it probably will too short and won't disengage properly as I am thinking you are needing something in the range of 76-1/2". If it works then upgrade the Kevlar version.
