mower smokes & cuts off when blade is lowered

I have a Lowes Lawn tractor. Model number is 130-659g062. When I lower the cutting blade, the mower will smoke & then cuts off. The blade will turn but is tight. The belt seems a bit loose, maybe. When I cut my grass last week, it appeared to be cutting deeper in spots. Can anyone be of an assistant? Thanks

 

Hello traybaby!

Is the belt loose when you engage the blades? It should be loose when the blades are off, but tight when they are on. It does sound like you have a bearing siezing in one of the blade mandrels, causing the belt to burn and the engine to choke down. If the bearing has already failed badly enough to come apart, it may have let the jackshaft drop down a bit and let the blade fall lower than the other blade (causing the uneven cut you described).

 

Thanks cheese, I took the belt off and it had big chunks out in it. I replaced the belt and it does not cut off or smoke but still cutting deeper in spots. Is replacing the bearing a hard or easy job, keep in mind I am a female. What will happen if I wait to replace the bearing? I have a push mower I need to get running. I call my place "the no crank zone". Thanks for your help and thanks for saying God Bless!

 

If it is only happening in spots and the mower deck is working now other wise, it may not be a mandrel problem. Do both of the blades spin freely with no tension on the belt? Is the deck attatched correctly? Are all the tires properly inflated? Does it happen in certain spots or just randomly spotty...?

I am unsure who makes mowers for lowes, but from the model# would I be safe in guessing Murray...?

 

It is only happening in spots. Both of the blades spin freely. The deck should be attatched correctly. One tire look a little low. The deck just looks lower on one side. I checked the brackets holding the deck up and they looked OK. I looked on the engine and it said briggs & stratton. I hope I don't have to do anymore to it because my nuckles are cut and I have a big bruise on my knee. Thanks for your information.

 

If it is spotty and the spindles spin free and do not have any excesive slop I would tend to think terrain or operation at the time.
I mentioned the deck being attatched correctly as I just recently had a murray that was not cutting even. The fella had bought it new and never had the deck off. He never knew he was able to raise and lower the deck height since when he moved the lever nothing happened, he never used it again in 8 years. Once the blades became to dull to overcome the deck problem the uneven mowing became worse. I found the deck was not installed correctly and must have been that way when he bought it.
He is a much happier mower now.