LOL....mine looked just as frayed as yours. The only thing I had against using a washer is friction against the frame or bushing. You might be inviting problems, that's why I re-drilled the main shaft. I used the locking collar on top to adjust the height of the pulley. See if it'll work I guess. Looks like we got one out of the same batch. I haven't had one problem since I made the mod and everything stays in line. It would also explain the low runtime and the heat on the battery and esc.