Craftsman DYS4500 will not start 2nd time

[Someone]

Before you get too excited, yes you are right the cheap Chinese starters bought off Amazon Ebay Craigs List only vendors are the junk ones Briggs, Kohler, Stens, Oregon , or Prime Line rejected.
Second, cranking fine plugs out and not being able to overcome compression plugs in is the first sign of a failing decompressor on the crankshaft.
This I feel is what the technician was trying to tell your father.
It is not a difficult repair to do .
$ 400 of the $ 500 quoted is labour.
Whatever you do , don't hold the starter on while it struggles to get over compression.
If it gets like that then turn the engine just over compression by hand then hit the starter so it has time to build up some momentum to help it over full compression.
Otherwise it will be a new cam and a new starter.

Yeah, that's what I was doing when it would I could not get it started. I would spin it passed the compression point to give it momentum but no luck. I took off the valve covers to look at the valves. (Watched a video online explaining why there might be too high of a compression and where too look.) Nothing was indicating there was a failure. I also had engine compression test done and the results came back within specification. (I was not present during the test) At least I was told that with how many operating hours I got (540 hours), I should not have compression failure.

If this things starts having issues again, then I might take it in for the crankshaft repair. My father was quoted $500 for parts and labor. I don't have the time nor the skills to do it myself. The only thing that keeps me wanting to work on this thing is the 26hp motor. I was looking to purchase a compact tractor (but decided not to due to the fact is I can't afford one now. They run about 20k here with front loader and backhoe), but the one I was looking at comes with a 24hp engine. If someone can explain to me why the lawn mower has more horse power than a compact tractor.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Well for a start, your mower probably goes about twice the speed of the compact tractor.
Before you spend big dollars on a real tractor have a look at a used stand on.
If you have under 10 acres they will probably do all you want and usually they can be picked up for a couple of grand.
Even better you can get up front flail mowers for a lot of them as well.
Worth their weight in gold those things.

A compact tractor generally has nothing other than a hydraulic pump and a lot of hydraulic motors & cylinders.
That is a easy job for a small engine.
The landlord has a skid steer with a 3/4 yard bucket and that used to be powered by a 14Hp Wisconsin single, he bought that for $ 500 ( Aus)
Around the fringe of nearly every city there will be a lot of small family farms falling over in favour of growing houses & shopping malls.
Go to a few clearing sales and see what you can get.
None of the Yuppie , Hipster or Millenial wann-be farmers are interested in old tractors, they HAVE to have a nice new Mahindra with an air conditioned cab , usb & phone ports.
Old 40Hp tractors that feed the nation for the past 60 years go for a song and a mechanical pump diesel tractor will be dirt cheap to buy & even cheaper to run.
Add to that they usually come with a host of attachments.
Then there is the hands in your pocket factor.
If the idiots opening their wallets have no idea about what they are buying ~90% of sales then a bigger engine HAS to be better .
Hydro boxes gobble up a lot of power so you see lazyness comes at a big price.
I use a 1966 chain drive , mechanical gear box mower 32" belly mower or 24" out front slasher powered by a mighty 8Hp side banger Briggs.
I got another one with a 34" deck powered by the same 8Hp Briggs and a third with a twin disc 40" deck driven with 10Hp Tecumseh side banger.
All these mowers cut near 3 times as fast as the more modern Husky 42" deck hydro powered by a 19Hp Kohler
I can put the Rovers through 10' of reeds & bull rushes where the creek crosses the road with a little clutch slip.
The Husky can't even drive over them let alone cut.

So about 1/2 the power goes into the electric clutch and power losses in the hydro boxes.
Look at the difference in engine size to deck width on a mower with a vari driver ( always smaller ) compared to a hydro drive ( always bigger )

 

[Oliver Douglas]

Been doing small engines for 40 years and have never told a customer their engine had too much pressure after running.

Rolling the motor with the right valve cover off you can see if the compression release on the cam is working.
If it is not, the engine has too much compression and the assist isnt working.

A leak down will show this also. It should rolling over when you do the left cylinder, and the right one should stall the motor from rolling over if the compression release is in the bottom of the crank case.