Quite right Keith, it is attached to the crankshaft:

[Linked Image]

I still have trouble believing they have a hex nut rotating at 10,000 rpm close to the operator's fingers, but that is what the drawing seems to show.

I think the easy and practical way to remove Nut 45 is with a rattle gun. That should do it in much less than a second. If you don't have access to a rattle gun, if you put the longest available ring spanner on the nut and smack it in the anticlockwise direction with a sizable rubber hammer, it should be undone very easily indeed, given that the flywheel is attached to that shaft very close by.

I notice that the same blower/vac seems to be sold as an MTD with the same part numbers. Perhaps that will make it easier to get the parts.

Last edited by grumpy; 21/10/12 11:56 AM. Reason: Add detail