You either have a bad or loose pulley, a stretched belt or a tensioner that isn't working right.
maybe your deck is too low
Depends on the size of the lawn mostly. A push mower (or better yet a powered drive push mower) would have the best control in rough terrain, but if it is a large lawn a riding mower is better.
There is a charging system that is under the flywheel. It is a magnetto system.
Castlegarden
Mower has a generator, which is turned by the engine. When engine is running, generator produces electricity to charge the storage battery.
You may have a hot wire grounding out somewhere
There is usually a deck belt and a drive belt.
Place mower near street with FREE MOWER sign. That is the best way to remove the clutch/drive on this POS mower.
I'm assuming its a riding lawn mower of some type. Our own lawn mowers of this type have an alternator in them that keeps the battery charged
Can I do it myself, set the timing on my riding mower.
Perhaps it is the starter drive. That happened to my riding mower. Got the drive replaced, works fine.
Generally it is treated as being in the same category as farm equipment, so any place you can drive farm equipment you can drive a riding mower.