Alright, after a week or so of soaking I finally took the time to slap it back on. Seems to run great! Hurray.
However, I was now able to test the snowblower aaaaand the wheels have no power to them. You pull the clutch handle and nada. I checked for an adjustment, but I wasn't able to find any. The cable does pull on that lower spring and puts tension on it, so the cable is doing its job. Perhaps there are some wear parts in the differential unit?
Here is a picture of the underside. The clutch cable comes down and attaches to the spring by the pulley.
