Not concerned about the fuzz on the magnet but these chunks were also stuck to it. Drive oil otherwise looked good. Are these most likely from the upper gears? The upper magnet was clean. If I pull the back cover off the old style XR can I inspect the gears? Thanks.

You need to completely disassemble the WHOLE drive. Upper and lower need to be cleaned and inspected. Nothing good will happen if you just find the broken part and replace it. Its a great time to have a complete rebuild done.

I would also suspect its your lower gears. Chunks that big would have a hard time making it to the bottom case IMO.

Thanks. I will pull the drive and take it to my mechanic, Brian, of Orlandi Performance. Big water boating is done now anyway.

I see a rebuild in you future. Small chucks make bigger ones. Then...... BOOM !!!!!! new drive time...That's how my summer ended anyway..

Yeah, the drive is off and going to Brian Monday. He said he can get right on it.

How many hours?

Look at the bright side, at least it still holds oil. Usually when 1 of mine lets go it takes the case too. Always pays to check the magnets.

Agree with all above. I'm lucky to get 35 hrs out of a set of lower XR gears before the magnets start looking like a Chia Pet.. It will be good to know what's going on, I suspect your lower gears have some heavy pitting, since you don't have any debris on the upper, you might luck out and not have to replace upper gear$.. Good maintenance program (checking the magnets etc) can really save a LOT of money. -Also curious on the hours..

There are 2 seasons on the upper and a whole bunch of seasons and hours on the lower. It's an Imco lower with at least 200 hours. Brian said the Imco uses the same gears as the XR lower. I thought the lowers were bulletproof. The good thing is if the damage is limited to the lower then the cost will be a lot less! I'll find out Monday. He's going to get right on it.