You may also need a new air filter gasket. My Brother-in-law has a John Deere JS61 mower with the 6.75 Intek. It was a real bear to start, but once started, it ran great. After going over different things trying to figure out the problem, I saw the gasket had a tear near the primer port. I replaced the gasket and it now fires up with one or two pulls. I found out that sometimes the filter box will warp a bit where it bolts to the carb...
L8R,
Matt