ok, posted before with no responses...tried a few more things about the carb
After reading through some past carb issues, tried the following.
Ran 2 tanks full of fresh gas with Seafoam in them. Seemed to straighten out a bit more, but still was running very rich and still cannot adjust with the mix screw.
kept changing the plug and suddenly the idle changed a bit, so I decided to try the air fuel mix adjustment again, when I tipped the carb, the idle just purred...when I tipped it back, it would idle rough again. Still very rich...
any suggestions this time?