Dave,
I stand corrected. The impeller on my 54" blower is metal. The whole blower unit performed very well last year, only breaking a shear bolt once. It ate a rock it didn't like at the end of the driveway, near the road. There were no impeller problems.
Last week I changed the transaxle fluid. It was a bigger job than I had thought for. I'm glad I didn't hold off and wait till it was time to switch over the accessories. I know these things will get easier as I gain experience on the machine.
Last year was very easy to prep the garden tractor for winter. I simply made arrangements at the end of October and got a last day of November appointment for a serviceman to come and do it. I was laid up with a broken leg and there was no way. As I said, it was worth every penny. He was here just over an
hour.
Fast forward to yesterday. I did the same job myself in 50'sF weather. It took me about
three hours. Taking the cab off in the Spring made assembly this Fall much easier. I had lubricated the snap buttons where the metal tubes attach last year. It paid off. Somewhere between spring and now, I managed to lose the snowblower manual book. It's a pretty straight forward operation, but another will need to be ordered. Of course, I took the granddaughter on the "maiden" voyage for the year. She loved the caution light I had on the roof. We drove it to the house and parked it.
Here is the finished product this year.
