I have heard the orange belts aren't that great, however I don't know. My 201 belt is quiet it is black. I know my thread would pop out of the thread guide as well, the spools of thread now have a larger hole in the middle to put on the thread spool and they bop around on there causing jerking motions of the thread which causes it to jump out of the guide while going a bit faster. I put a tight rubber band around the spool pin to make it a bit larger and still the thread would spool off easily not causing any extra tension. Sounds like you have fixed that problem. Your bobbin tire may be too large, some are made thicker for different machines. I have had my machine for a couple of months and use it regularly and really enjoy sewing on it, mostly quilting, or piecing. Oh I hemmed jeans with the heavy orange Jeans thread and had no problems, you may have to clean your tension, take apart, clean and put back together to get that corrected, but I am not sure. That machine just went right through it no problems at all, I used a 16 needle because of the thread size and the thicknesses of the flat felled seams. Was so happy to see it go through with out any effort! Glad you like your machine. I have some attachments for mine but don't use them much.