Sears Craftsman riding lawn mower help

[coolbrze]

Not quite lg. equipment, but here goes...

A friend (not in the landscaping biz ) has a 15 yr. old Craftsman 14.5 Hp riding lawn mower and was cutting grass in the rain a few weeks ago. He said the wet grass started jamming up the mower blades but kept cutting anyway. Afterwards it seemed as if the belt stretched as anytime you'd hit thicker grass it would start to bog down. He just called & told me that it's gotten real bad, when you hit thick grass (that it should be able to cut easily) it bogs down and starts to squeal and both the blades & engine RPMs slow down considerably. I told him I wasn't sure what it was but that it sounds like the clutch, any ideas, other than not cutting w/ a POS in the rain?!

 

[JRepairsK70e]

clean out the built up grass in the deck ,then sharpen the blades and make sure the trailing edge of the blade is still curled up and complete ,then check that the belt isnt crispy and the tensioner pulley is tight enough ,then stop cuttin tall wet grass

 

[bullseye13]

clean out the built up grass in the deck ,then sharpen the blades and make sure the trailing edge of the blade is still curled up and complete ,then check that the belt isnt crispy and the tensioner pulley is tight enough ,then stop cuttin tall wet grass

This is right on the money. Probably nothing wrong with tractor itself, just need to service deck.