I haven't had much time to play around with this tractor but I did mow with it once. It wants to bog down under load, and it surges and dies at idle without the choke on. It almost sounds like a misfire. So, doing my research on this issue it looks like it's probably a carb issue or an air leak in the split intake seal. I haven't checked the compression yet, I tend to do things backwards.
Both sides definitely have compression, I replaced the plugs and turned it over with the plugs out and both sides blow air forcefully out the plug holes. I have a compression test kit somewhere, but just haven't taken the time to pull it out. I put my timing light on both sides and the flash is smooth with no misfiring down to idle when it dies, so I don't think it's a misfire. Last night I finally pulled it apart to look around at the intake. It didn't look terrible to the naked eye, I cleaned it up and looked it over good. So then I decided to get my super bright mini maglight and turned off all the lights and shined it up in both sides of the intake and voila... there was light peeking through the seam in several places. So, following the guides online I took it apart and cleaned it up good and resealed it and put it all back together. I'll give it a good 24 hours to cure and then fire it up and see what happens.
I think the split intake has to be one of the worst ideas ever conceived. I wonder what was their reasoning for this design?