Any MCM TR gurus ?

[offroad rider]

Ive got a really nice 79 Tollycraft with a Mercruiser 330 coupled to a Konrad 520 out drive. This is called a 1/2 kit by Konrad and uses the full MCM transmission. I recently had the transmission out (50hrs ago) for a reseal. when I replaced the (what I will call) carrier bearing in the merchauto tailshaft It matched up to the one coming out, but was really loose in the case, I found that really odd, but I did have the correct mecruiser PN's and it matched up, anyways I broke the input shaft to the outdrive. boat never vibrated or showed signs of any issue until it failed, in fact silky smooth. So now I'm left wondering WTH happened? should this bearing free float in the housing? Thanks