So I overheated my engine from some kind of fan issue that I have to still sort out. Started tearing down the engine and cleaning it and found the rear stationary gear in pretty bad shape. The entire engine looks great and is reuseable. Just quite odd to see one part bad compared to the rest, any idea how it could happen?

 

Hard to say. Some copper is normal, but it looks like it's peeling up in the front.

Just fix it and move on.

Dale

 

What Dale said. $50 part + press.

Although rumor to believe the cause is from over tightened belts.

 

On the *rear* stat gear could be slightly misaligned transmission (bell housing) with the transmission input shaft putting a hint of sideload on the rear of the eshaft.
No biggie - as noted replace the bearing and don't worry about it. I've seen much worse form a running engine.

Regards,
Crispy

 

Just wanted to be sure because I'd hate to put it back together and have the same problem down the road.