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Quote: ''5)jumpered it from battery to coil to make sure enough juice was going to coil...'' Totally unnecessary and puts your coil at risk (not much risk, admittedly), especially in some 12-volt conversions, since you bypassed the ballast resistor. You could have looked at your dashboard ammeter instead and had the answer instantly. With the standard six-volt system you want to see a three amp discharge with the ignition on but the engine not running. So, do the quick checks first. Odds are very good one of these will find your problem, and it only takes a few minutes to run all three. (1) Check the fuel flow. First get rid of the fuel filter UNLESS it was designed for a gravity-feed system (and they almost never are). Pull the plug on the bottom of the carb and let 'er run for several minutes. You want a STEADY stream the diameter of the plug. (2) Take a good spark plug and bend the electrode out to 3/16''. Clamp it to ground. Remove ONE spark line at a time (double-check the firing order when done. 1-2-4-3 with number one in front) and hook it to the test plug. You need to see a bright, wide, blue spark. Weak or discolored spark needs more gas in the fuel/air mixture to run well, which is what you get when you apply the choke. (And always remember, blindly replacing points, rotors, caps, etc., rarely accomplishes anything unless you CHECK the spark to CHECK your results.) (3) Do the check with the WD-40 around the manifold. Vacuum leaks will sometimes cause this condition, all right. But the single most common cause of choke dependency (at least in humid climates) is poor fuel flow due to rust in the system. This is ESPECIALLY true if the tractor is kept outdoors when not in use.
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