Thanks for posting. Does that machine have a clutch??
It has a centrifugal clutch.
A few weeks ago I was using it and the belts were squealing like crazy... never having used a machine with a belt that did this (other than a car/truck with the fan/alternator belt making the occasional fuss) I assumed it might have been normal. Well, that ended with the belts smoking! It seems the two side-by-side belts they shipped the machine with didn't stretch the same amount during the overheating period, so I tried going to NAPA to get two matching belts. They ended up giving B43 belts, but when I tried putting them on yesterday, they seemed too small, so I put the originals back on. After getting things reassembled and taking the machine out (with no squeals) I stopped working and took a look at the belt area. (as a note, the belt cover doesn't seem to come off completely without removing the wheel... which seems like bad engineering to me... but there's still enough room to work, albeit annoyed) Anyway, the old belts had stretched more, and I realized I installed the tensioner belt on the WRONG side (pressing the small side, causing it to twist I think, as it pulled around the tensioner wheel). Oops! It had been too many weeks since I'd taken the machine apart, and I simply forgot how it should have gone back together. I fixed the tensioner position in the field, and got things running again. Again no squealing.
So long story short, if you hear any squealing more than once during operation, stop and tension the belts. Also, it seems two belts aren't necessary, and maybe just there for back-up in case one snaps while out working (please feel free to correct me if this is wrong).
Other than that, and some loose nuts/bolts, I haven't seen any bent metal plates on the machine yet.
