Buy new mower. Keep the old mower and part it out. Its worth more than $100 by parting it out.
Heck, the flywheel is worth more than $50.
But I would still pull it down and see what happened, might not be too bad and may be repairable.
Unless I am missing something here it looks like to me the OP is having this work done by a shop?? A couple of things here, 1 Why would he himself be taking this mower apart to sell parts 2 Why would he be spending money to take the mower apart to see if it was repairable. I don't know what the shop labor is where he has his mower but around here it can run better then 70 dollars a hour. If he was doing his own work I can see doing his own repairs but seeing he has to have his work done by a shop, get a new mower and be done with it.
You are correct, I was responding more to the last few posts, and not to the O.P. {Original Poster}.
To the Original Poster: Go find a local Poulan Tractor dealer, and buy an identical Poulan 42" tractor with the same engine,
same quality for @ $1300, it is the same tractor, just not Orange and has a Husqvarna Sticker on it!!! Poulan, Poulan Pro, Craftsman, Husqvarna, same unit, different color....
Same tractor, and sell your old one to a neighbor kid for a $100 or so....