Distributor drive gear life expectancy

Jack21 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-12-2002, 10:56 AM

Previous topic here was life expectancy of distributor drive gears, so I pulled the dist out to check it. Last thing anyone would want is to have this gear go belly up on the highway, halfway to Carlisle, or DVSFII, right?

Cam is Comp Cams retrofit roller for 351W. Dist gear is Ford SVO steel gear for roller cams.

Gear has 5000 miles on it, wear pattern is what I would have expected at a much higher mileage with a few scratches in some of the teeth. I burnished the teeth with a wire wheel but it didn't look like it need replacement...yet.

Typically, I would replace a dist gear when replacing a cam. Any suggestions or rule of thumb to go by here?

dscott · #2 (**permalink**) 05-13-2002, 07:57 AM

Jack, I have some engines with over 40k on them now and the gears still look good. I don't think there is any rule of thumb regarding the gear. It is a good idea to check it from time to time. The only engines I have ever had problems with are the 302 and 351. Once we started burnishing the cam gear I haven't had any gear failures. A little wear is normal once the gear and cam mesh.
Don