Why take the carb apart BEFORE checking the fuel flow? That"s like doing surgery for obesity BEFORE trying diet and exercise.Isn"t it much easier to pull the drain plug than remove, disassemble, and then re-assemble a complicated thing like a carb? The bowl was probably half-full because some of the gas had evaporated out. This is one major reason why gravity-feed systems have a provision for shutting off the gas. Otherwise the gas slowly evaporates out through the carb... A much better way to check carburetor operation than taking it apart is to substitute a carb from another tractor that runs well. The tractor doesn"t have to run perfectly with the substitute carb, it just has to lose the symptom in question (in this case, not starting). So, don"t tweak the carb, leave it set up for the OTHER motor!!! Not always practical, but when practical leaves NO DOUBT as to whether or not the carb is causing the problem in question.
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