Kraig,
You'll love the spring assist - I have one on my 125 and with the QA42, if I max out the spring adjustment, the thing is just about perfectly balanced. No Armstrong for me!
Got some good seat time with my 125/qa42 yesterday - we got about 6" of really heavy wet stuff. I've put graphite paint on the chute and I'm running a Browning 3.5" cast iron pulley and 1/2" belt, and man does this combo work! I was flinging the slop probably 20 feet in the air and it was...
Heck, I'd trade 'em straight up for Cub rims if anybody wants them... that would save me from having to put them up for auction/sale since I'll never use them.
Not sure if even posted here before, I used to post sparingly on the ihregistry site before it went down. Here's my 125 that I restored two years ago and put to work. I just finished getting it ready for snow duty with the QA42 w/ 3.5" pulley and 1/2" belt, rebuilt gearbox, new ags and weights...