Sounds like you got too much grease in the holes.

 

Done. Next time it will only take 30 minutes. My belt deflection went from close to 2" to .75" -- spec is .87" to 1.06"
I only had one large spacer in there. I need to order the small spacer because it creeps a little bit.
I can't believe how much more POWER I have. The thing never wanted to pick up the front end before, now it feels like it wants to flip me over backwards.
Here's the easy way to hold the pulley to get the nut off. Wedge a small piece of 2x4 measuring 2 3/8" between the drive and driven pulley and you are set.

For the spring, put the pulley on the floor with small pieces of 2x4 under it to keep it level(this is crucial) Then, I took 2 pieces of 3 foot long 2x4 on opposite ends of the spring top piece. Me on one end and my wife on the other to compress the spring. Once the clip is off put a piece of cardboard or something over the spring before you come up releasing the tension. I didn't do this the first time and the spring hit me in ribs because my one of us came up too fast. Better there than my face. That spring is under some serious pressure.

As far as the buttons, the right way is to put them in before you put the spring back on. Once I did that they slid in easy.

Thanks for the help everyone !!

 

It didn't push in hard just finger pressure. The only thing I can suggest and I'm sure you have done it is see if ther is any damage to the buttons.