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Squealing when engaging mower blade

10 years ago

I have a new Craftsman model 29000 mower. From day one, it squealed when engaging the mower blade, sometimes I can slowly ease it in when engaging with no problem, tried various revs, seems to be worse when warmed up. I had a repair tech come out, and he drove it around pushing down the mower engage lever hard,and it squealed every time. He told me not to worry about it which I didn't buy. I bought this at a Sears outlet store, got a good price and this seems to be the only problem so far. They said it was a floor model with a scratch on fender, and that it had been tested. I found this not to be true, as I noticed the cable that runs over to the engage assembly was jammed, and that a bow tie cotter pin was missing that holds the assembly together so I surmise this could have been an original problem and that someone had worked on it.

What do you think? Should I be concerned?

Thanks.

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