I have needed one of these for years and when someone threw the engine/fan in the scrap metal hopper at the Cat dealership where I worked I couldn't resist the temptation to grab it. The engine had no compression and it turned out to be a stuck valve. After removing the head and cleaning everything it runs great. The body is almost all aluminum and the under carriage is steel with a widened MTD tractor front axle. The blower chute sides are made from excavator plexiglass windows, which is 1/4 in. or so thick and is tough stuff. It works great and will make the fall cleanup a lot easier.
Nice job! I had a similar unit (not as nice as yours) that came with the house when we bought it. I used it a LOT until it pretty much vibrated itself to pieces. To fix it I found an engine/fan unit on CL and scabbed it all together - works great but still not as nice a job as you did!
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