Diamond Drive

I just changed my DD oil today, and noticed some metal filings in the oil. I know its obviously not good to have filings in it, but is it normal wear and tear of the gears in the drive system? I got the oil changed last year at the dealership, so this was the first time that i've done it on my own. The drive isn't making any noises, runs great, and sled only has 1000 miles on it. Any info would be awesome. Thanks.

i would split the case and check the little bearing on the bottom gear. just single row bearing. on my 09 m1 every 300 miles the bearing cage was starting to come apart. only reason i checked it was cause of a post on snowest about crappy bearings. i think if the case doesnt go back together and stay without popping back then its too much side pressure making the bearing fail. after 800 miles or so and 3 bearings i put a 5203 double wide in with bdx gears and had to grind the shaft down and refit a few times to get the case to close without springing back. 1100 or so on that bearing and i havent checked it. hasnt crapped out yet so it must be ok.
i couldnt tell that the little bearing had started to crap out but its definitely something to check especially if you are going to keep the sled for next season.

I have a 08m8 with 5000+ km I just had to do the lower bearing this year for the first time.I changed the oil every five rides or 700km. The oil was slightly grey each time until the bearing went , lots of metal was obvious then. I have now glued a magnet on the lower plug. Works perfect to keep oil very clean of metal . Use factory oil with a small amount of power up additive and ride it like you stole it.

Thanks for your input. I bought a bearing/seal kit, and will be taking it apart tomorrow night, and if its bad i will throw some pics up. For the amount of money it costs to buy new bearings, a guy should just do it once a year if lots of miles are made.

We have two 07's.....one with only 700 miles, went to change the oil before the trip to Sicamous two weeks ago.

One of them had some metal filings in the oil, opened it up and discovered the thrust bearing (25) was gone.

They had a update on the bearings......but got a tip, when Cat but the silicone on the cover, it usually spills a bit on the inside....over time it breaks off and floats in the oil.

The shaft in the Transfer gear (27) is hollow and plugs and eventually over heats the thrust bearing and once it goes the the whole thing implodes if left long enough....

There is a couple of update kit's, one that comes with a cover gasket, oil and spacer, the other is basicly a replacment bearing kit.

We replaced the whole gear set(21), bearings but used silicone, just real careful appling it...

Thanks to ASE in Sherwood Park, Glen from Spindrift and Don's speed parts in Wainwright.....

Sounds like the drive is the only problem with the cats. What is the replacement cost if a guy has some bad luck?

I have around 6000 km on my 2007 m8 and we have changed the dd oil every season except this season and it has been all good so hope for the best though i have heard some not so good of things about the dd's i have had good luck with them.