Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Scotts Riding Mower moves reeeeally slow.

I have a Scotts 19HP, 46" Riding Mower. It runs fine... starts fine... and cuts fine. The only problem is, it moves at a freaking snail's pace.

It has the hydro trans, so forward/reverse are on the same pedal. If you push the pedal all the way forward till it hits metal, the mower still just barely gets into gear and barely moves forward. The same goes for reverse.

Sometimes, when putting it in reverse, I can tell that it finally "catches" the gear properly and then it moves just fine... plenty fast for reverse... but that's hit or miss. Forward, on the other hand, never fully "catches", and I'm always just putting along at some ridiculously slow pace. It has gotten worse since I bought it three years ago. At first, it wasn't the quickest mower, but it did fine... Forward and Reverse seemed to be OK. I think it took me under an hour to do my 1/2 acre lawn. Over the years, though, forward has gotten slower and slower and reverse stopped "catching" properly and has now become as slow as forward. It now takes me around 2 hours to do my lawn.

I don't know a freaking thing about engines or mowers or whatever... basically, what I'm wondering is, does this sound like a serious problem (with the transmission?) or could it be some loose belt or linkage or something?


WATYF

It could be a belt problem...but that doesn't explain a difference from reverse to fwd. It could be low on oil. It could be a linkage problem, and it could also be an internal problem in the tranny. I'd be inclined to think linkage or oil level.

oil level? really? I never would have thought that.... of course, I don't know anything about this stuff, so that's probably why. :p I think I can handle checking the oil, though. :D

WATYF

Not the engine oil level, but the tranny oil level. Some units are sealed and you might not be able to check the oil in yours. Look and see.