Pax,

No the gear is not the problem but rather the bearing(s) that the shaft rides in. The squeak or squeal you are hearing is from a dry/damaged bearing. I’m not sure if the problem comes from oil supply not being sufficient to begin with or if the drain hole(s) block the return so that ends up choking the oil supply.

When I took the drive assembly out the shaft was tight to rotate by hand so I sprayed some brake clean in the oil hole that flushed out a bunch of crud and stuff. It rotated much easier after doing that. Nonetheless, the bearings were shot so a new one went in.

This is a PITA job so I would not take out the old one without putting a new one back in. Just not worth trying to do anything to the old one just to find out that in a short period of time you have to do the job again.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Good luck,

Mark