Uphill Battle

[rossfrank]

I have a 2005 Bolen's lawn tractor 17.5 HP. It runs smooth & cuts fine as long as I'm on a PERFECTLY flat piece of my land. Any hill at all, and the thing will barely move forward. There a few hills in the lawn which it will barely climb. If I rock back & forth to help it along or go from side to side a few times, to decrease the grade, it just makes it. Otherwise it comes to a complete stop there no matter what I do. The tires don't spin when it decides the hill is too steep, it happens with or without the blades engaged and it does not lose any engine power/RPM. It just sits there .
I am not really sure where to start looking. I would really appreciate any suggestions I can get. If it's possible that it is a fluid level of some sort, I have not been able to find what fluids there are and where they get drained and refilled. (Other than the oil.)

 

[StarTech]

Really need the model number to be sure but most likely it has a CVT drive setup and the belts are slipping due to wear.

 

[SeniorCitizen]

If you have a capable someone to look at the drive belt system while the mower is stalled but still running as it would normally while moving , you may find there are 2 belts on the cvt system but one belt is all that's moving . If so the variable speed system needs to be rehabilitated or replaced with new .

This fellow has no idea what he is talking about but you can get the broad view picture by watching for a minute .

 

[bertsmobile1]

Actually there is nothing wrong with the video
A bit red neck way of freeing the variator pulley and I would be looking to see why it jambed before the new belts went on.
The variator pulley should be lubed with a dry lubricant , like lithium spray grease or push bike dry chain lube but basically it is correct from start to finish