those shields were put on the wood right above where the muffler was, as it's fairly close and does get pretty hot when running a long time .... doubt if it's a "fire hazard" situation, but hard on whatever you use for a wood finish to have it heated that much

Bill

Moved over to the Passing Lane

"When we tug a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world" ~ John Muir
"When we tug a single thing on an old truck, we find it falls off" ~ me
Some TF series details & TF heater pics