Please Help!

[pepperjack]

I was looking at the mower again today and noticed the black ground cable from the battery to the chassis was a little corroded and stiff near one end. Could this be the problem? Would a bad ground cause the mower to lose power while driving and not re-start/no power at all?

 

[BlazNT]

Yes

 

[bertsmobile1]

Clean all of the wire connections.
Power goes from the battery to the solenoid then via a small wire from the solenoid to the fuse and on to the key switch.
From there it goes to the PTO switch, the brake switch and back to the trigger wire on the solenoid.
The switch should have letters on the back of them
B Battery
S Start
G Ground
M Magneto
A or L ( some times more than one ) Alternator & lights.
Check the switch and the wires going into the switch.
Either the switch is bad or the connection to the B terminal is bad ( wires break at the crimp connections) and some times even the plug on the back of the switch can fall off.

 

[Teds]

Would a bad ground cause the mower to lose power while driving and not re-start/no power at all?

Have you even read the advice provided here? Also see that you bought a new battery without first having the old one tested.

 

[bertsmobile1]

There is a wonderful product called "Liquid Electrical Tape".
A thick gooey liquid that does not wick in between close surfaces and dries to make a waterproof plastic cover which is easy to scrape off.
Clean the wire & contact points, get a brand new bolt do them up tight then paint over them.

Same thing on both the solenoid terminals , starter motor terminal and everywhere a cable is bolted to anything.
It is not unusual to find a mower with 13V at the battery but only 5 V at the controls because of dirty connections.
Every time a dirty connection happens, the current draw increases so you get things like melting fuses.

 

[pepperjack]

Last week I replaced the ground cable, started the mower, and mowed my lawn. So, it seemed that it was the ground cable.

Today, I went to start it to mow again and nothing happened. No turning, no clicking, no nothing. I took out the ignitiins switch, messed with the connection, and got it to start. Phew! Not so fast! I hit the reverse pedal to back it out of the garage and the thing wouldn't budge. I then hit the forward pedal and it doesn't move. The whole time the engine is running and "squealing" when i depress the forward or reverse pedals. So, I go to the back and pull out the "nuetral lever" to see if I could push it. No luck. The rear wheels are locked up. What could this problem be?

 

[bertsmobile1]

Remove the rear right wheel and check the brake
It is a simple disc floating on the splined end of the layshaft.
If it can not be moved back & forth on the spline, it is locked on.
They get full of crud + water = corroded solid.
the two small bolts either side undo it the one in the middle is an adjustment.

 

[pepperjack]

Thanks bertsmobile! I will try this when I get home from work tonight