got the tractor running. I had gone to NAPA before you (Soundguy) had posted this list and picked up a battery ground cable and 4 new spark plugs. I drained the old gas and cleaned up a few things. Took a couple of days of troubleshooting and it turned out to be the discharge nozzle in the carb being plugged and the ignition key being intermittent.
It ran for about an hour, I managed to plow a bit of snow... yes, still snow on the ground here, lol. then it started surging, engine revving up and down. I managed to make it back to the shop and discovered the little T drain valve had backed off causing fuel to drain out of the carb... my bad, I probably had overlooked tightening it up.
just need to find a parts supplier for various items