So as I already noted in part 1, a twisted belt makes dirt fly very well. It covers you, your machine and makes you look like Pigpen from Peanuts with dirt constantly circling you.
I've been raking maple leaves the past 2 days and dumping them on the kids' garden and figured I might as well till them in before I pull the tiller for a while. There was this odd, not so rhythmic thump here and there and I have zero rocks in the soil. I couldn't figure out what the noise was and even looking underneath to see if something was in the tines made me clueless. I thought it was inside and figured if I've already broken the gearbox, I might as well finish my job. The rotation of the shaft was true and tight on both sides so I kept going. When I pulled the tiller just now, there was no "foot" to prop it up on! That's right, it slowly fell down until pulling forward it kicked the foot back under the frame and out of sight. The non-rhythmic thump was the first left side tine popping into that foot here and there. With any luck, the only damage was to the foot and purely cosmetic.