I found that a metal portion of my bearring carrier broke the other day. The area that the metal broke off is half of the metal ring (or lip?) that the front of the propeller fits into. It looks like the rest of the bearing carrier is fine. I don't see any cracks or any place for water to be getting into my lower unit. When I was on the water, I heard my motor make a weird, grinding noise when I was coming off plane and that was probably the point when the piece broke off. But, I was using the boat the whole evening after that and did not notice any performance issues. So, I'm wondering if it's necessary to replace the bearring carrier or am I okay to just continue to run the boat normally?
