Air Flow In Bags

I have an older Snapper 21" self-propelled High-Vac mower purchased in the late 1980's, I have replaced the motor a few times and it still is a good mower. over the last years it seems like it doesn't do as good off a job sucking up leaves it seems to splatter leaves around. My thought on this is that maybe the bag is clogged and does not vent air well enough? (It works great on grass) (It used to work on leaves much better 10 years ago) Any thoughts/Experience?

I have a couple thoughts. Is the latest engine less powerful than previous ones? Or is the deck plugged up around the lip? I've noticed many decks I've come across have quite a bit of dried grass etc stuck all over that lip (and the whole underside of the deck) that can affect airflow. I'm amazed how much stuff I can scrape off under there sometimes. Maybe trying the bolt-on wings to help airflow? Just trying to think of some possibilities.

My initial thought is, is the RPM of the latest engine as fast as previous engines?

When we had our store, we also owned the adjacent car wash. We often just washed the bags with the car wash gun and hung them up to dry. It will only cost a couple bucks to try it.

I will check the buildup under the deck although I cleaned it a couple of mowing's ago. The HP has increased each engine and is now at 6.5 HP I have never checked the RPM and now I don't have a Tiny-Tac that works anymore. It does blow up the bag to a very solid state when running.

I do appreciate the idea of taking the bag to the carwash to clean out the caked on dirt/grass residue from over the years.

I haven't worked up the nerve to put the thing in my wife's washing machine yet!:laughing:

Thanks for the ideas.