anyone ever had to replace the camshaft on a riding mower (compression relief is on the cam)?

trying to decide if I should try ( ~$75 bucks for the camshaft if I do the work vs $500 for a shop to do it)

can't believe my 3 year old riding mower has a busted compression relief

tiny spring piece breaking causing me a lot of headaches

It's really not all that difficult if you are comfortable doing it and have a large table to put the engine on. The hardest part is pulling the engine off the mower. You'll need a new gasket for the oil pan and lots of rags or paper towels for the oil that stayed in the engine.

Are you confident it hasn't been misdiagnosed? It could just need a valve adjustment.

Thank you for the comments. I checked the valves and they are both at 4-6 thousandths.

If I spin the crank by hand with the plug in it "hits the compression wall" (no problem with plug out of course even when using the starter).

If I spin the crank with the plug out I don't see the exhaust valve dip from the compression release. I could be mistaken, but I am fairly confident the compression release broke (really stinks).

looking at youtube, it seems fairly common for this to brake