this is for the drive experts, I have a 38 powerquest with 950hp blown 540's. I'm running XR's (I know its not enough drive), blew the port side drive, when I removed the top cap the gears were chewed up pretty well and the housing is trashed, but my question is with the cap. The cap is cracked around the center that goes down in the bearing, is this possible the reason for the failure, in other words when I replace the drive should I get a stronger top cap? thanks

yes you should all the psessure is pushing up on the cap. a good person to talk to is " Mr. Gadgets" here on oso

Left hand rotation, uses the upper gear. Your tower snapped off. The XR ribbed top cap I use, has a steel tower in it. If you replace it with an XR the new hump back style uses the XR ribbed top cap, all you need do is stud the cap instead of using the bolts for a stronger setup. If you use the old style upper case then the cap can be installed but the shiming may have to change. You cant just swap a top cap without proper setup.
Hope that helps.
Dick

thanks for the input, i will definitely look into the newer swept drive, can I run one of the swept style with one of the old style, or would i have running issues?