The engine runs fine for as long as I want it to until I pull that knob. Then it sounds like it want s to work and just dies. The belts don's spin at all when thi is occurring. Primary wheel located beneath the engine which drives the belts doesn't seem to spimove the belts. I am considereing removing the belt from that wheel to remove the load to see what happens but removing and putting the belt back on has always been a pain in the butt for me. Want to eliminate all other possibilities befprehand.

Check under deck make sure thers nothing stuck on the blades.
Luck

I already checked that first. There's nothing stuck in or around the blades.