the plot thickens.... I talked to the hydraulic shop today, not good news. Service guy told me one of their senior guys (15 ish years of experience) ripped everything apart and had never seen anything quite like it, service guy on phone agreed. He said very odd wear marks and pattern on the piston assembly, said it almost looked like the ends of the pistons were machined to a point? Also mentioned a large mark on the rear cover. He did not quite know what caused this, but we discussed the possibility of the external torque pump disintegrating and damaging the main pump. Sort of like what wdchyd mentioned earlier as a point to watch.
So, he is telling me major work needs to happen here. He thought him buying a refurbished pump or rebuilding the current one would cost about the same, around $1300!!. I mentioned that Terramite quoted me $1400 for the hydrostatic pump and charge pump, minus the rear gear pump. He told me to verify if that was new or refurbished, and suggested buying it without blinking if it was indeed new.
How does this all sound? Definitely bad news for me, as it looks like this could be worst case scenario.