Thanks for the suggestions - and RIGHT ON ! I had a good look this morning and sure enough it's hard to get easy access to the carb but underneath the carb, with the hood up, you can very easily get access to the throttle and choke linkage. I noticed that the choke linkage had a little bit of play in it (maybe not even 3/16") and if you moved it manually you could get the choke to close a little bit more - so I readjusted (about an 1/8") the flex cable coming from the throttle control and then when the throttle lever was fully up in the choke position the choke was fully engaged... And happy to advise the motor starts up pretty well now from a cold start with the choke fully on... Many thanks and best regards.

If you want to rule out the valve issue, then just roll this tractor to where your car is. Put a set of booster cables on the car battery. Put the positive cable onto the terminal on the starter that has the heavy cable attached to it. Take the negative booster cable and press it firmly against the engine block or tractor chassis with the ignition key in the "ON" position. If the engine spins over easily and starts, remove the negative cable from the engine block or tractor frame. Try this a few times. If you get the same results, then you just proved two things. 1. The valves are likely adjusted correctly 2. Your tractor has a seperate starting solenoid somewhere. So let's pretend that the above scenario has occurred. Next step. Take the booster cable off of the starting mower. Trace the heavy wire that is on the starter motor back to the starter solenoid. Put the positive booster cable onto the OTHER big terminal on this solenoid. Clamp the negative booster cable lead to a clean spot on the engine block or the tractor frame so that it makes good electrical contact. Now try starting the tractor with the keyswitch. If the clicking noise is still there, the a new solenoid should solve the problem. The clicking sound is the solenoid pulling in. However, the round disc inside the solenoid is not making proper electrical contact and needs to be replaced.

More good advice from above in Tomplum's post. You'll see a higher than normal oil level on the dipstick that will be thinner and also smell of gas, if the engine ran long enough or gas continued to enter the engine after shut-down. I bought an old Craftsman Compact 7 that ran fine but a little rough. It had sat for two years and the tank was dry and rusty. I had a lot of sediment problems but there must have also been some water in the gas, either in the line or in my own supply. After an early freeze or two, I mowed the lawn one last time and on the way back to the shed I noticed it was running very rich. On parking, I was astonished to see it was flooding gas out of the carb bowl onto the hot engine and right beside the exhaust and muffler. The float was crushed like a beer can, I assume from the water in the float freezing and expanding. It had several hairline cracks, though I did manage to reform it and solder up the leaks (after draining and drying it out, and using an electric solder gun and not a propane torch!) So now, I not only shut off the tank after use, which I did before anyway, I also run the engine till it uses the gas in the line and float bowl and dies from lack of fuel. That way, the float is not sitting in fluid at all times, therefore gas has less of a chance to leak into it, and any water in the bowl is minimized or eliminated. -Ed

Thank you fearboy for such a quick reply! I have already been able to acquire both the owner's/service manual and the illustrated parts reference online. The parts guide is even linked to the B&S store so I can order virtually everything I'll need...once I figure out exactly what all that is anyway. As you described, I had removed that plate with a 10mm wrench (gonna be asking Santa for a small metric deep socket set...) and saw down into the shafts. At the other end, I assume I was looking at the "cam followers". When I described my test while holding the pushrods "in place", I neglected to mention I did this both with that plate installed and removed. As I was in unfamiliar territory, I tried what I thought was how things would align...but with your fresh advice, I went back for a second look. I included an image this time. It's a shot of the top channel behind that plate through which the pushrods are installed. I believe what I'm looking at here is that the exhaust tappet (thanks for the correct verbiage tomplum) is the top circle... and I'm guessing the bottom circle (the center of the complete pushrod region) is a port for lubrication? I have another shot down the intake shaft and I can see another tappet for the intake pushrod. Aligning a pushrod into either tappet and hand-turning the flywheel produced absolutely no movement. Does anyone know if the cam lobes or gear teeth are ever known to fail or break? Are there any other possible explanations for why I can confirm piston movement but not valve movement? Again, before I commit to a tear-down, I'm hoping to rule out all less-involved repairs...actually, I'm hoping there IS some less-involved repair. Thanks again for all responses!