Inducer blower wheel grinding?

UncleJay said:

I have a Carrier 58PAV090-14. Woke up to a cold house and error 31. There was a slight grinding noise I noticed the past few days but I thought it was just the inducer fan out of balance so I tried to dust it and recenter it etc. Guess not.

When the furnace attempts to start the inducer fan will start spinning then come to a grinding hault and the system shuts down. I can manually turn the fan but there is some resistance. I am thinking maybe the blower wheel is grinding on something? Any ideas would be appreciated as a Sunday service call on Superbowl Sunday will not come cheap/easy!

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UncleJay said:

While I was tinkering I pulled the fan with both hands towards me and tried to spin the fan. The fan began to spin easier so I tried starting my system. The fan started going and siezed up again. I was able to pull it out a little and spin it and the system started running and now its spinning(noisy).. But the furnace is running
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UncleJay said:

So based on this, the new inducer motor would resolve?

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