I was mowing my yard, and the grass was pretty tall. (4-5 inches, maybe 6 in some spots). I hit a tall spot and the mower started to struggle (usually recovers), but this time it didn't make it through. The mower shut off. When I tried the pull cord, it barely comes towards me at all. I turned the mower on its side and cleaned out all of the gunk, but I'm getting the same result. How do I fix this?

Dear Sandi,
If I read your missive correctly, I believe your mower is too small for this task.
It would appear to me you could do one of 2 things.
1) mow it more frequently , before the grass grows so tall, ( like maybe 2-3 times a week,) or get a bigger and stronger mower.
Remember too, electric mowers are not usually very strong, but gasoline engine mowers , some are so strong they can mow a forest!
.God bless your efforts.

The likely cause of this is that the grass is too high for your mowers deck. You should try just mowing about 1/3 of the blade at a time (if you can) until you reach your desired length, so if you grass is 6" high, only take off about 2" at first to reduce the stress on your mower. Set your mower deck to it's highest setting and give it a shot.

Also, be sure that the blades are sharp, and if you don't have mulching blades, you should get some! Grass this high will leave long clippings on the lawn which can suffocate the grass, mulching blades will chop up the clippings into smaller pieces, which is beneficial for your lawn!

Finally, make sure you aren't mowing wet grass. If you mow when the grass is wet the clippings can stick together and clump up under the mowing deck which will cause excess strain to the mower and maybe even cause it to shut off.

If none of this works, you may want to use a string trimmer to remove the first two inches of your grass and then continue mowing as normal!

Hope this helps! Happy Mowing!

Have you been mowing high grass, and how long has the belt been on? if you have mowed tall grass or belt is older than 2 years old it needs replaced, most don't realize how much a belt stretches from mowing tall grass. I hope this has been helpful.

If you need further help, I’m available over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/steve_f5a6ca85b5d1ffc9

deck is dented blade is hitting deck

is it wear you turn and the tire is binding?

check the deck belt tension, or slow down the mower may not be able to handle the load

It sounds like your blade is hitting the ground when you are mowing.If you have high spots in your yard the blade will cut into the ground and the mounts on the mandrel will break. Make sure the mower rake adjustment is set correctly,the mower blade should be level or a maximum of 1/4 inch lower in the front.This adjustment is done with the adjuster bolt that runs from the front of the mower to the frame under the muffler, it may have one or two rods connecting the mower at this point. Also make sure the wheels are set down far enough so they can prevent the deck from scalping,they have five different mount holes,if they are up in the highest they will not do anything.Unfortunately these mower mandrels will not take a lot of punishment and they can break when the blades contact anything like dirt or tree roots. Your ultimate action may be just to mow the grass a little higher to keep from scalping. Hope this helps.

if it has a grass box,mow without it and then mow again with box or use a strimmer and then mow.

Most likely what you did was burn one or more spots on the belt. When the blades and belt stop turning, like in tall grass, the engine doesn't stop and will burn flat spots on the belt at the engine pulley. Every time the flat spot hits a pulley, it will jump and can set up a bad vibration. Run your hand around the sides of the belt or take it off and you will feel or see the thin spot(s) on it. Replace belt.