Looks like the problem is the governor spring. Although it looks hooked to the throttle slide and the other end is poking out of the hole in the boss on the adjustor wheel, the spring puts no tension on the vane assembly. If I move the vane manually towards me on the muffler side it just sticks. I tried rotating the click-wheel clockwise, when looking down on the engine, to try to get some tension in the spring but couldn't. You can see there's slack where the hooked end of the spring goes around the arm coming from the slide. By the way, I was asked before for the model and serial number. It's a 10323 serial # 220028437 which makes it a 2002 model I think.
No wonder it only ran flat out as the throttle remains stuck wide open no matter what the control is calling for. I'm trying to summon my courage to remove the carburetor assembly as I've watched videos of others struggling with the reinstallation. Any helpful ideas or just encouragement will be appreciated. Bob