Oil change

Ok... been 3500 miles since I bought the Nomad. Time for an oil change. I went out and looked and it has a simple spin on oil filter..... I thought these were all replaced with the cannister style with the nut on the front (tht's what the sevice manual I bought from Kawasaki shows)...... remember it's an early '99(98) with the oil level sight glass way down under... (no pun Tex)..... does this indicate in any way that I still might have that plastic gear?? Is there a way to tell..... and if I'm not having any problems shoud I just replace the spin on filter with what's on there????


Remember this is Nico.... MachoDC that has the shop do everthing up untill now!! KawaNOW!!!


I NEED ANSWERS AND TO BE SMITED DAMMIT!!!!