Now back to the subject at hand.
It appears the industry is headed down the path of becoming near monopoly by MTD and TTI when it comes to consumer end of the lawn care equipment. Of course on the commercial front we got OEMs like John Deere that think just because you own one their ZTR's you should pay more for the parts. I just recently needed a couple idlers for a 830A last year they were $45 ea, this month the same idlers are now $85 ea. The comment from parts counter was if you can afford a 830a then you can afford to replace the idlers at their price. Luckily I found an aftermarket supplier (probably their source for this particular idler pulley) that shipped me a pair for $31 ea + $6 SHC