fleetfoot

I have drilled out the rivets in the past.

Yes, it is just the pin that holds the wheel on the axle. Once you take the pin out the wheel should slide off as long as the wheel has not rusted to the axle. When you re-install the wheel apply some waterproof grease to the axle. The grease will help prevent the wheel and axle from rusting together.

One option for a more powerful 24 inch two stage is a Simplicity Large Frame, like the 860 or the newer version P1524E. I had a 860 and after install an impeller kit it could handle any kind of snow.

Additives are put into the gasoline after it is formulated. The formulation determines the octane level of the gasoline. The additives are required by engine manufacturers to remove the small amounts of combustion byproducts that can be deposited in the combustion chambers and the valves. The additive package is independent of octane level. In other words, the additive package is identical for 87 octane gasoline and 93 octane gasoline. The 93 octane gasoline does not have more "stuff" than 87 octane gasoline.

Using higher octane than recommended by the manufacturer will not damage your engine. There are no advantages to using higher octane than recommended by the manufacturer. The only difference between higher octane and lower octane is the ignition temperature. Use whatever octane fuel you wish to use as long as it meets the minimum octane requirements of the engine manufacturer. The one change you will see when using higher than recommended octane fuel is a lighter wallet. Regarding where to buy fuel, there are very few low volume gas stations anymore. The sale of gasoline is a low margin business. That is why it is sold mostly at stores with multiple sources of revenue, i.e. convenience store, restaurant, car wash, souvenir shop. It is very rare to get old gasoline out of the pump. The majority of gasoline is at most a few days old. All the gasoline within a fixed area comes from the same refinery. The refinery formulates the various octane grades of gasoline then adds the additive package of the particular company when filling the tanker truck. You will see tanker trucks from every gasoline company pulling in and out of your local refinery. So picking one gasoline company over another means you are picking one additive package over another but the basic gasoline is all the same within a given geographic area.