In furtherance of the 'a rodent chewed on the wiring' theory, I just removed what I thought was going to be a spider's eggs sac or a wasp nest from inside, above the main shaft, only it was...a peanut. A whole, in-the-shell peanut, with one end chewed into and half that nut missing.
In other news, the drive shaft is pretty well frozen. Is this something I can un-freeze myself? With what? Preferably something I can get at Ace Hardware, or an auto parts store. I know folks rave about Kroil, but have never found any locally.