Agri Fab Leaf Vac: Starting Shaking, Now leaking Gas

I have a Agri Fab Leaf Vac that you pull behind a riding mower. I was using in today, it was running good then it starting making a loud noise and shaking/vibrating. Shook so hard it knocked out the hitch pin on the mower and then it started leaking gas.
I took off the vac hose and looked at the impeller, one of the blades is broken off. I bought it used a few years back, so don't know if that's always been broke. Would the impeller blade braking today cause it to vibrate and shake so much? And does the leaking gas mean it's probably the carburetor?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

If it broke today, the impeller metal would be shiny where the piece broke off. The broken off piece should be in the vac bag. Did you check the vac bag for the broken piece? My guess is the impeller is loose on the vac motor shaft or the broken off piece is large resulting in an unbalanced impeller or the vac motor was run with no oil. If the impeller was not loose on the motor shaft and there was oil in the vac motor, most likely you need to replace impeller. Can you be more specific as where the gas is leaking from, gas tank, hose between tank and carb or carb?

 

A broken impeller would cause it to shake violently.

 

Just like the blade on a mower they act as an external dampener, broke or missing it's going to shake violently!

Carb, fuel lines, tank, should be easy to see!

 

It could have shook hard enough to pull a gas hose off the carb or tank.

 

Appreciate all the responses. I took another look today. The impeller is shiny where it broke. Guess I hit something and broke it yesterday. I don't see anymore gas actually leaking at this time. I wonder if it shook so hard it caused the gas cap to come loose?
Gonna take another look this weekend and clean up the engine some and see if I can see any leaks. Checked on ordering new impeller part number 14536 from agri fab, it's obsolete, go figure. Tried looking on amazon, currently unavailable.
Anybody know where I could order a new impeller?
Thank you.

 

"I wonder if it shook so hard it caused the gas cap to come loose?"
All you have to do is check to see if the cap is still tightly in place. No need to ask us.

A neighbor had a similar problem. His impeller was a welded assembly so I ended up making a new blade and welded it in place. If it is a casting welding isn't really an option because of the stresses and vibrations involved. A new impeller can also be fabricated from scratch as they are sometimes relatively simple though it takes a metal fabrication shop to do the work.

 

Pilot Dane,
Good point on just checking the cap. However, I cannot remember if I did so initially and tightened the cap back. That's why I asked. Thanks for the tip on locating a metal fabrication shop.

 

I was able to try impeller removal tool I ordered and unfortunately it doesn't fit. Apparently my model (1997) is tool old for the tool. I saw a video doneyboy73 used a standard bolt that was long enough to put pressure on shaft to remove an impeller on a leaf vac. Any thoughts on that or another way to remove impeller?
Also took a picture of the rear of the shaft and it looks like the key that holds impeller on shaft is not sitting flush or positioned all the way back. Is that the way the key sits?
Finally, I thought I had a gas leak, nope, it's an oil leak. The engine leaked the remaining oil while it's been sitting the last week or so. How do find where it's leaking from?

Thank you.

 

What is the second photo showing? Appears something rotating was hitting the area around the hole. To remove impeller the hex bolt in photo 1 must be removed. If impeller won't come off the motor shaft, use a 2 jaw puller. Will need to make 2 access holes in impeller's metal between the blades for the jaws using a sheet metal hole punch. Most likely reason for oil leak in the area in the photo is the motor crankshaft oil seal has failed. Need to remove and replace.

 

beelezebob,
The second photo is the shaft with the hex bolt removed. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being easy and 10 very difficult, how would you rate removing and replacing crankshaft oil seal?
I can change my oil, spark plugs and wires, replace brake pads, replace radiator, replace power steering pump, and replace alternator, and thermostat.

 

Photo 3 shows the blower motor crankshaft attached to the impeller's center hub that passes through a large hole in the blower housing. Where is this large hole in photo 2 if it is showing the crankshaft? Changing the oil seal is a 3 or 4 once you get the impeller off.

 

Photo 2 is showing the crankshaft after removing the hex bolt. Is the oil seal the plastic ring that seats around the crankshaft?