Hey y’all I’m hoping someone can help me out because im stuck at this point. Last spring I decided to start a landscaping business as a side hustle. I picked up a very used 2009 cub cadet 50” with a Briggs and Stratton VTwin. I did a full tune up and the engine worked great for the year. Over the winter I did a little bit of work to it but nothing too crazy. I did pull the engine off to replace the crankcase gasket but I’ve done that on other mowers in the past. I pulled the mower out of storage this year and put fresh gas in it but while at my first job for the year I noticed the mower is running like crap. What’s weird is it runs decent while the blades are engaged but as soon as you turn them off it runs very rough with a lot of backfiring. I had a new carb sitting on the shelf so I put that on it hoping it was a fuel issue but it didn’t change. I pulled spark plug wires to let it run on one cylinder and I’ve learned the problem is on my left cylinder. So I adjusted the valves hoping that was the problem but it did not help. The only thing I’ve found to help is if I add a little bit of choke it will clear up for a minute before running rough again. I just can’t figure out what could be the problem because so many parts have been replaced on this in the last year. If someone has any suggestions of what to try please let me know. Engine model is 44M777.