The belt was not installed that way intitally. I inspeced the tractor closely when I took delivery. The cover showed no signs of a problem before I cut the front yard yesterday so it happened sometieme during that cutting. The amount if misalignemnt (in relation to the postion of the cover) is quite a bit so I am sure it burned (melted) through it quite quickly.....point being, if it were that way from the beginning, I would have noticed it after the first tiem I used it.
Anyway (see Jay, I started a new paragraph : ) ), I called the dealer this morning and he is coming to get it and said he will have it fixed and back to me this afternoon, tomorrow morning at the latest. He agreed that it is wihtout a doubt a warrenty issue.