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Originally Posted by Barry_R
Every single FE roller cam I have ever had (and I've had quite a few) is made of steel with one piece construction including the gear.
You get either the copper color between the lobes (gas nitride heat treatment - the copper keeps the core soft) - or you get the gray steel color (induction hardened - the machine steps the cam down and only heats/hardens the lobes). Both are essentially similar in hardness and gear metallurgy.
As far as I've been able to tell the Crane steel gear works well on either type - no 100,000 mile motors yet...
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I agree...I've never heard of a solid roller with a pressed on iron gear for an FE (and I looked long and hard)...other engines and hydraulics, as I indicated, yes.
Hope the Crane gear keeps working. If not, the poly gears also hold promise. It may be that solid roller cams will be really viable for street FEs in the near future without taking much of a chance.
Without going into a Copplesque description, I want to continue driving through Death Valley in the summer, drive several hundred miles one wa to Northern California, drive through stop and go in 100+ temps for extended periods or lug my big motor through the Sierra's highest passes, and still run at the track, without worrying that a damn distributor gear (or worse, the cam) is going to let go.