Ran into the previous owner tonight

It is not always what you did, but knowing what to do and actually doing it. Bought an old Buick from a neighbor one time. They had tried everything and could not get it to run. I replaced the four inch rubber hose from the tank to the fuel line in back and it started right and ran good. Yes, I had bought it cheap, as a non-running car. After checking that it was getting spark, discovered that it wasn't getting gas. Followed the line all the way to the back and found the problem. Offered to sell it back to him for $100.00 more than I paid. With any internal combustion engine start at the basics. Spark, Fuel, Air, compression, in that order. If it has all four and won't run, then it becomes timing. But most often, it is one of the four basics that is faulty.

Hmmm... even the tires look pretty good.  My steering arm is like that, too... I'm guessin' it was fairly common to 'tweak' those, eh?

Many weedeaters get sold or scrapped when the spark arrestor screen gets plugged....easy fix. I watch for them on Craigslist and email the seller to check for that before they sell cheap. Tractors have a lot more things that could be wrong when you buy them not running....it is a gamble, but if you get them cheap enough you can sell parts and come out ok.  I always buy non-runners as parts tractors, usually get lucky and they run with little work.