Why is my lawn mower hard to push?

Jane

It's self-propelled so it shouldn't be as difficult as it is. I've had it for several years. I think maybe it needs to be cleaned out around the wheels and the blade. How would I go about doing this?

Answer
Tip the lawn mower on it's side and take a look and see if there is a drive belt going from the crankshaft ( that holds the blade) to the axle that your drive wheels are on. Then see if there is any grass build up around it and glean and then check the tension on belt it maybe slipping .

My self-propelled lawn mower has to be pushed!?

Matrix

The engine of the Honda lawn mower starts and runs perfect but it has to be pushed. It started doing this last year but now it's terrible. The cable was out to the end of the adjustment so I replaced it and that didn't help one bit. What else could it be?
It's got a belt that seems OK. It could be stretched, but how do you tell. If it's the transmission, I'll junk it.

Answer
I agree with the first poster, your belt is off. Turn the mower over and you will see that between the blades and the motor is a pulley. That pulley should have a belt around it that travels to another pulley between the rear wheels.

The 'clutch' so to speak is basically a lever that pushes or pulls the belt tighter, the tighter the belt, the faster the wheels turn.

Between the rear wheels is a small box that transfers power from the pulley on top of it to the axle. It is possible that this box (called a trans axle) is broken and can no longer transfer the power. If the belt moves the pulley on top of the trans axle and it still does not go, that is the issue.

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