Followup,
The snow got a lot wetter towards the end. I was really overtaxing the motor, was packing snowballs on it to get it to quit smoking so much while trying to finish up.
This rig is overheating with 2 inches of wet snow. The blade speed is about right so it probably needs more motor. I managed to finish but had to let the motor rest a few times. plow stick would have been about as effective. Ah well, a $30 experiment
Now I know, get more motor.