thermal mounted to heat element bracket reads thru (0 ohms). lifted one lead on element and my reading was about 40 ohms. wondering what that reading should be. was hoping for an open to make it easy...no such luck. would appreciate any tips you could give.

Here are your parts
Parts for Whirlpool KEYS850JQ1 Dryer - AppliancePartsPros.com

See the attachment for the wiring diagram.

Looks like this is a dual element heater.
Each element should be about 20 ohms.
So if you measured the two elements in series 20 ohms would be OK.

The first thing to check when there is no heat is the power.
The motor and timer run off of half the line (120 volts) but the heater requires the full 240 volts.

Try flipping the breaker off/on slowly a couple times. Sometimes you can loose half the line without actually tripping the breaker.
Check the voltage at the plug
L1 to L2 should be 240 volts
L1 to Neutral and L2 to Neutral, both should be 120 volts.
If OK
Unplug the unit and check the wires at the terminal strip in the machine to make sure none are loose or burned out
If OK
Check the power at the terminal strip.
Do this with the heater off and on.
[COLOR="Red"]Be careful as 240 volts is lethal !!![/COLOR]

If the power is good then unplug the unit and set the unit to the setting where you get no heat. Use a high heat setting.
Set your meter to it's most sensitive scale (usually 200 ohms) and short the meter leads together before starting to see if there is a zero offset in the meter.
Attach your meter lead to L1 on the power cord and leave it there.
Now work your way back through the heater circuit.
So R on the timer should be 0 ohms.
Both sides of the Thermal Cutoff, Operating Thermostat and Hi-limit Thermostat should be 0 ohms.
The right hand side (on the wiring diagram) of the heater should be about 10 ohms.
Then check the temperature switches SH1 and SL0 see the timing/switching chart.