remove breather gear screen?

[plattd]

Sorry, think I might have buried this in the knowledge base. Here's the panhead question:
After removing and washing my breather gear, I ran a magnet down the inside bore and-whoa! a whole bunch of filings kept lifting out of the blind screen holes. This led me to the conclusion that the proper way to clean this thing up is to remove the screen. OK, done and cleaned. Then while talking to my machine shop guy (a well respected shop) he tells me that I might just as well leave the screen out--"Anything big enough to get caught there and you've got bigger problems already." What do you think about this? Thanks.

David

[Jack_Hester]

I think that it is important to leave the screen in place. I cleaned mine last Fall, during the rebuild of my '59 engine. I'm satisfied that the case bore for the breather gear would have been ruined, if not for the screen. My breather gear was full of rod bearing cage fragments, and aluminum. If not for the screen, not only would the case have been damaged around the breather gear, but who knows what the damage may have been to the gearcase, after being flooded with the remaining fragments. As is, I cleaned the breather screen and reused it.

Jack