Distributor & Drive Gear

That's an IRON gear and should not be used with your Crane cam.

An IRON gear has a rough finish on non machined surfaces.

A STEEL gear has a smooth finish on non machined surfaces.

John

Further to what John wrote; Crane makes a very nice steel gear for the 351C. They are frequently out of stock so you might have to look around for one. It's also important to check the installed position of the gear on the distributor shaft. If it's a bit too high or low, it will get chewed-up in no time.

Simple test, carefully take a File and if you can remove material from a corner of a Tooth it is NOT "Steel" it is Cast Iron (Gusseissen)

For a Roller Cam you must use a "steel" gear (gehärteter Stahl)

quote:

Originally posted by goodroc:

For a Roller Cam you must use a "steel" gear (gehärteter Stahl)

Wrong, for a roller cam you must use a bronze gear.

Simon

quote:

Originally posted by Simon:

quote:

Originally posted by goodroc:

For a Roller Cam you must use a "steel" gear (gehärteter Stahl)

Wrong, for a roller cam you must use a bronze gear.

Simon

Are you sure? Before I installed mine I checked with Lunati Cams tech department and they told me "steel" for my roller Cam. What else is steel Gears for then in your opinion?

Just to stir things up some more you can use a polymer gear on all cams.
Forest

A bronze gear is used if you are not sure about what cam you have and therefore its a safe solution. Problem is the bronze gear wears very quickly. I replaced mine in my mustang after only 3,000 miles I could already see wear. Since you know you have a roller cam and the manf recommends a steel gear I would go that route.

Simon is right, bronze or a by metal gear, bronze maybe 10,000, by metal 30,000 or more
I think that's what is being called a steel gear.
I have ran a bi-metal gear on all my roller cams for the last 10years, never had one fail.

The gear material compatible with the camshaft is dependent upon the material the camshaft's core was made from. I would like to point-out that the 5.0 HO Mustang engines had roller cams, yet were equipped with a standard distributor gear, not bronze. Some steel roller cam cores are indeed compatible with steel distributor gears, that's why Crane makes them, and that's why Ford Performance Parts sells them. Crane's steel gears are definitely compatible with Crane's roller cams. I believe the Comp Cams hydraulic roller cams are compatible with the standard factory distributor gears, right? Forum member Bdud had a roller cam put in his Pantera's engine, the mechanic insisted it had to have a bronze gear, apparently whatever material the core was made from, it was not compatible with standard gears OR steel gears.

For my money I would never install a bronze gear, for both the wear rate, and due to the fine bronze particles they pollute the engine with. That's why I instruct folks, when they order a custom roller cam, to insist on a core that is either compatible with standard gears OR commercially available steel gears.

quote:

Originally posted by forestg:

... Just to stir things up some more you can use a polymer gear on all cams ...

I don't know anything about them Forest, I would love to learn. I have lived my lifetime with hundreds of experiences of finding "hot rod (SEMA) parts" being pieces of s#!t. Please don't hold it against me if I am hesitant to embrace something new. I am open minded, all I ask is for honest, non-mocking information.

So to those of you who have information about them (not just Forest) I welcome your comments.

Are they a short-lived part, or can they be used in a high mileage daily driver?
Are they tough & reliable, or have people had failures with them?
Do they sluff-off particles & pollute the engine with them?

Those would be my concerns. I won't use them myself, or recommend them to others, until these questions are answered. Waddaya guys know about them?

I've been used big the composite poly gears and had had no issues .. modern technology ... come on guys come with us into the 21st century ! Lol

Part number please.

George,

Poly Composite gears have been around for about 10 years. I'm told all NASCAR teams use them. The material is as strong as steel but as soft and forgiving as bronze. The manufacturer has now tooled-up to make 351C gears. They did the first run of 50 about three years ago and put them all into the field for durability testing. I was lucky enough to get one. Of the initial run of 50, there have been no failures.

https://www.tritecseal.com/pro...d-distributor-gears/

My deepest heartfelt thank you David.

I've made several requests for information regarding composite (polymer) gears over the years. You are the first to ever respond. Sounds like these gears have promise, but I'd like to see the feedback after they've gone into wider circulation and a variety of applications for a few years before I recommended them to other people.

I saw the price and winced a bit! EEK ... but if the only other option were a brass gear, I'd choose the composite gear without a blink, even today.

These would be the times where may he Rest In Peace Mel Goldenberg @ Polymertech I would ask to weigh in on the conversation . He was the expert in plastics but a few of us in the group had discussed this and we have tried them in our W motors and I would say inspection and use as been uneventful unlike the factory C gears and the wear of brass gears. It just make huge sense with the huge stride we have made with the use of plastic . Who would have been better to ask then the man himself who introduced plastics to the Military

Tx folks in particular John & David
(understand this topic goes right a way in deep theorie..I am novice level running hopefull soon a fun car! )
as ALL drive stuff is Crane..need(ed) a practial solution..
1) will go for Crane "STEAL" gear ..UNDERSTOOD..
2) will see what I can do on "INSTALATION Heights & play" for the shaft...will wait for parts from the US first..then I will come back..I USE the impressive Book from Tom Monroe!!!!!!

ANYTHING on INFO on the Motocraft 12 127 Stock no/Stock any good?? Distributor??
See my initial mail

TX Team
Matthias

George,

Keep in mind, Comp Cams has been selling TriTec Poly Composite distributor gears, for Chevy, Dodge and some Ford applications, for many years. Ford Motorsport sells them too. The 351C/460 gear is a recent application. If you ask Comp Cams what the best dist. gear is, they'll tell you it's the composite gear. If you don't want to spend the $, they'll suggest one of the traditional melonized iron, steel or bronze gears (depending on your application). You can also use a new composite dist. gear with an "old" cam and vice versa.

What caused the delay in bringing the 351C/460 gear to market was TriTec's inability to determine the correct dimensions. Ford could not help them because the original blueprints had been destroyed long ago. That is, Ford ordered them shredded a long time ago. Luckily, a long time Ford employee realized what a mistake that was and removed them from the "to be shredded" file. From there they disappeared! An anonymous Pantera owner () knew where these original 351C blueprints were and arranged to get a copy of the dist. gear blueprint to TriTec.

Prior to receiving definitive information, TriTec had purchased a number of 351C/460 distributors and distributor gears in an attempt to determine the correct dimensions. What they found was, the I.D.'s of the gears they purchased varied quite a bit. They assumed the Duraspark and OEM dist. gear were correct but they couldn't understand why reputable manufacturers would vary from OEM dimensions. One gear they checked fell off of the distributor shaft when the pin was removed. TriTec said that without the proper interference fit between the distributor shaft and the gear, the pin would fail in short order!!! I don't recall the correct specification but a 351C distributor gear should be a "light press fit" on the distributor shaft. Also, always check to make sure the distributor gear is installed at the correct height on the distributor shaft. Ford Motorsport has a good instruction sheet on their web site, that tells you how to do this.

The moral of the story is; just because you bought your dist. and/or your dist. gear from MSD, Crane, Accel or Mallory, don't assume it's correct. Check everything before you decide to rely on it!

I have always believed the gear should be more than a "light" press fit, more of a substantial press fit. That's the way I've found them when I've removed them. I also believe too light of a fit will lead to roll pin shearing. Which was the topic of another recent thread. I had "assumed" that gears that weren't tight enough had been polished by the owner/mechanic to make them easier to install, never considered they were being manufactured that way. Its stuff like that that has lead me to have the opinion I do of hot rod parts.

The polymer gear would be a good solution for Bdud so he could get that brass gear out of his engine.

Sticky #3 also has a good instruction on how to install the gear.

Here it is:

The blank that is used to grind the lobes on determines the gear you can use. Mine is ground by Comp Cams on a -9 core, billet steel, which requires a bronze gear. The info should be on the cam card.
I checked my bronze gear at ~2,000 miles and I saw no wear. I intend to check again when I put the car back on the road in the spring. Using a timing light, my timing has not changed.
I had posted in one of the 351c forums if anyone was using the composite gears, no joy. In searches I think I found all Chevrolet's, some with mixed results. I bought a spare bronze gear which I keep in the car.
Great to hear you have had no issues with your composite gears.
How many miles have you got on them?