:welcome:
The clutch is simply a mechanism of removing tension from the drive belt.
Once the belt is loose it should be able to slip either on the engine or gearbox pulleys.
There is no adjustment on this apart from changine the spring or moving it's anchor point.
The brake has two adjustments,
The nut on the rod changes the timing between the clutching and the braking and the brake lever should just start to move as soon as the tension is fully off the belt.
Too late and you will roll back before the brake stops the wheels moving and too soon and the brake is fighting against the gearbox which will make shifting very hard and break the shift keys on the gearbox.
The other sdjustment is the sensativity of the brake ( how hard it comes on ) and that is adjusted by the nut in the middle of the brake lever.
In = tight & agressive, out = sloppy.
People get lazy and change gears before the mower has fully stopped and this breaks the shift keys
jack up the rear end and try changing gears.
If you can not select all gers easily with no load on the wheels then the box needs to come out and be split.
You should have a Tecumseh/Peerless box
you can get a free service manual for it here
http://www.mymowerparts.com/pdf/