I have about 100 hours on my XR that has had about 750 hp in front of it and I what to inspect the upper gear set, can I remove the upper rear cover that the steering rams hook to and see the gear set? I have change the oil about ever 15 hours and have had no metal in the oil or on the magnets but I still would like to take a look.
Thanks John

No. You will have to completely take the drive apart to see the gears.

You can inspect the driven gears and get a good idea of condition by just pulling back cover of upper

You can see them, I guess, but really can't see them well enough to be able inspect the wear patterns and evaluate whether there might be problem approaching.

At 100 hours with 700HP, REPLACE them. At 105 hours I broke a set. 1 tooth came off, seized the drive, broke the coupler shaft in 3 pieces and twisted the heck out of the coupler. The rest of the teeth looked about new. Absolutely NO pitting and just a slight shine. You can sell the used gears to recoup some money.