In anticipation of the "Big Storm" the weather prognosticators predicted for today and tomorrow in coastal New England I decided to get the snowblower in good working order and besides, Kathy had smelled the strong aroma of gasoline wafting from the shed. She took a look about a week ago and told me there was a gas leak on the snowblower and that she had put a bucket under it to prevent the gasoline from saturating the wooden floor of the shed.
So, Saturday morning I hauled the snowblower out and took off the shrouding to take a look at the carburetor and fuel line. It turned out to be the screw that secured the fuel bowl to the bottom of the carb. so I tightened it, filled the gas tank, set the lever on choke and gave it two pulls. It started easily on the second pull! How lucky can a guy get??
I put the gear selector lever in position "1" and released the clutch......... nothin'!!
I put the lever in position "2", "3" and "R" and still nothin'!!
I resigned myself to pulling off the skid plate/cover from the clutch and gear selector housing and guess what I found.....
It seems that a field mouse (or mice) had decided to set up housekeeping in and around and fully incorporating the clutch mechanism of my snowblower. I wish I had a camera at the time! Suffice it to say that it took me the better part of an hour to complete the task of cleaning out the clutch housing of shards and fragments of shredded and pulled wool liner from an old Carhart jacket I had hanging in the shed for times when I would need it for outside work around the place.
But MAN, what a mess!! I have removed similar mouse-impacted debris from the rewind housing of my log-splitter and lawnmower.
This looks like a job for a .410!!
Consarned Field Mice!!!!
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