Gear drive?

[W.O.T]

any advantage to running a gear drive instead of timing chain? i heard the noisy geardrives sound pretty sweet kind of like the whine from a blower. in the summit racing catalog you can buy either "noisy" or "quiet" geardrives. ive only heard one on a car years ago. anyone run one on their boats? do they sound good?
http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive/timinggear.html

[Aluminum Squirt]

Mechanically, I'm not sure if it is an advantage or not. Aesthetically, I wouldn't want my boat to sound like its blown and its not. Kind of like buying a brand new mustang and getting the V6. If anything, I'd want the opposite, a centifugal blower hiding under a hatch and sawing people off left and right, but that's just me-Aluminum Squirt

[QuickJet]

Pros and cons. Pros are the consistent timing. Cons are the 5-8 hp the gear to gear friction takes away from your motor.
Oh, and when a ball bearring fails, make sure you are not too far from shore.

[W.O.T]

ouch thats probably why they are not to popular

[Devilman]

My brother ran one in a little hotrod pickup he put together a few years ago. Sounds pretty mean, definiteley a head-turner. In my opinion it was louder than any blower whine. It was cool for awhile, but got annoying. After a little while he was wishing he would have stuck with a timing chain... :rollside:

[Brazos River Rat]

I have a Pete Jackdon gear drive in my boat motor and I have 8 years of running on it. No problem yet .It is the quite drive, but you can still hear it.
Inspected the gears and bottom of the motor this winter and everything looks great after running 8 years on it. Had to fix hole in oil pan , bolt slid under pan and bottom out angainst the boat .

[CARLSON-JET]

I have to agree with dragboats. They are not the same as just throwing in a chain. If you have had the mains allign bored or the timing dowls are are not registered well or the cam bearing bores are not perfect then there is some extra set up. a gear drive must be trial fit. I lucked out on the motor I used one on and it was machined close enough to be a good with just clearancing.
My drive is a single idler type which is different then what is linked and uses the cover to hold the idlergear.
I have used my drive for 8 years with no problems and it is a Erson quiet drive. My Erson set-up has the ability to change the cam without messing with pulling the timing cover and was nice when I wanted to try diffrent cams or tweek the cam timing.
What really matters imo is quality. Get a good drive or a good chain. they both work. This debate has been kicked around on the internet about as much as ford vs chevy. R.B.

[QuickJet]

What ball bearings? Have you ever opened up a box and looked at a set like the one that's linked in WOT post?
I have used gear drives for 20 yrs, never a failure. Pete Jackson has over 100,000 miles on a gear drive in his roadster. They dont have ball or needle bearings...... Not sure on the 5 to 8 claim as well, the contact area of a chain may just be close to or equal to the gears. Where did you get this data???? You dont just throw them in the motor, there is a proper set-up procedure that must be followed, if done correctly you will have zero problems.
The bearrings are located in the idlers. What did you think they spun on?? My 300 dollar Milodon gear drive in my Chevelle destroyed my motor when it decided to let loose it's roller bearrings. Lived it, know it. If they were to change this design then that would be a plus.
As far as the 5-8 hp claim goes I saw it myself on an engine at Reggie Jackson Performance. Gianoli was testing the claim himself and noted a 8 hp decrease with nothing changed but the gear drive. Changed it back to the chain and the power was back. The change was mainly in the upper RPMs. Normal opperating RPM drop was closer to 5. Good enough for me. Timming was consitent though however as John Gionoli stated himself, "you can get the same consitency with a good chain without all that horrable noise".
I am sure alot of people have had good luck with gear drives, I havn't so I refuse to run one. Plus, the gears in my V-drive make all the noise I would ever expect from a gear drive :cool:

[Blown Lavey]

we had a gear drive in our small block with engine cover. ran it less than a season, and took it out. timing wasn't the problem, though. noise was the issue. get on it, and then run it down river for 20, 30 or 40 mins, and the whine is TERRIBLY annoying. have used gear drives in all my hot rod car engines, but the firewall knocks down the noise to acceptable levels. no such luck with boat motor sitting a couple feet behind you without noise barrier. just my .02

[QuickJet]

Gee thanks, although it was not a matter of him being right and me being wrong on the Milodon drive, nobody was talking about the Milodon drive -and if they was it was their secret!!! Besides that Quickjet used the term IDLER'S does Milodon use one or two gears? I think the answer is clear here.
Dont jack with me, I've had a bad week!!!! :crossx: :)
My Milodon unit was a single idle design. Different than the one W.O.T. was referring to.
And as always dragboat I have the upmost respect for you and your knowledge. I wasn't trying to argue either just sharring some of my experiances.
My week has been awesome!!!!! :rollside:

[LakesOnly]

any advantage to running a gear drive instead of timing chain? ...noisy geardrives sound pretty sweet kind of like the whine from a blower...do they sound good?"For the noise" ain't no reason to run a gear drive...
We had a gear drive in our small block with engine cover...and took it out...noise was the issue...run it down river for 20, 30 or 40 mins, and the whine is TERRIBLY annoying.Yeah, and most of the women seem to hate it too. ;)
LO

[LakesOnly]

I've had a bad week!!!! :crossx: :)Hey D, sanity check: 1) You sold the '55 Chev and did quite well on that, and, 2) You got your 'Vette handed back to you! Now step out and go for a niced drive this evening. :D
LO

[n8dawg]

I ran a pete jackson "quiet" gear drive in my '68 Camaro. I put many hard miles on it and it never failed me. I liked the sound. I did not like the sound of my neighbors "loud" gear drive, it was a little to much.
On a boat I would run one if I had a chevy but because I have an Olds they are twice as expensive. Get a quiet one, it should treat you pretty good.

[pce680]

GEAR DRIVES ARE THE WAY TO GO. CHAINS ARE FOR TIRES.
DONOVAN GEAR DRIVES WORK REAL WELL ON BBC.
JESEL BELT DRIVES ARE THE WAY TO GO IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT 5-8 HP. :cool:

[poncho-pwr]

As far as gear drives go I like the Donovans on a Chevy. With that being said, I almost never use gear drives anymore, I am a belt drive kind of guy. You just can't go wrong with a belt drive plus they also help dampen valve train harmonics to boot.

[W.O.T]

hey thanks for all the info guys i appreciate it. im going to shop around. i think im going to have to give the geardrive a shot!

[Liberator TJ1984]

Running one for about 5 seasons with no prob.....has dual idlers instead of single like other brands and No Bearings ...
Noise is not a factor as I can't hear it over that loud azz Blower anyways :crossx:

[Sanger Jet]

Running a PJ Quiet...........Chains are for tires..........If I had more $$$ I'd run pauls gear looks like good stuff!!!

[Willis]

PCE 680
When are running NJBA?

[Willis]

PCE 680
:messedup:
About the gear drive, I have used Milodon for 20 yrs, both on a Blown Gas Jet and a river boat without any problems.
What I did was to make sure the oilers to the gear drive were open on both banks of the engine.
On the new race boat, BGJ 149 we are using a comp cams belt drive, simple and a clean setup.

[beerjet]

As far as durability , I got nothin' . I did put a pete jackson in my jeep . A noisy one and when I fired the engine for the first time , NOTHING ! I HEARD ABSOLUTLY NOTHING ! I was sold a quiet one , and thank god because I dont' think I could have took that much noise anyways and I could not begin to amagine how agravating the noise would become.
-beerjet-

[n8dawg]

As far as durability , I got nothin' . I did put a pete jackson in my jeep . A noisy one and when I fired the engine for the first time , NOTHING ! I HEARD ABSOLUTLY NOTHING ! I was sold a quiet one , and thank god because I dont' think I could have took that much noise anyways and I could not begin to amagine how agravating the noise would become.
-beerjet-
Your boat looks good! Come with us to Nacimeinto this weekend!

[pce680]

PCE 680
When are running NJBA?
Maybe in June. :) or for sure when there is IHBA/ NJBA co/points races. :argue:

[beerjet]

Your boat looks good! Come with us to Nacimeinto this weekend!
You have probably left already and I have to work !
Some times it sucks being the mutha f@ckin man at work ! :D
-beerjet-

[HaulinAss]

My 300 dollar Milodon gear drive
it was actually a $600.00 gear drive,$600.00 to much that is :mad:

[QuickJet]

it was actually a $600.00 gear drive,$600.00 to much that is :mad:
Do you still have that? Gay dude said he could get the other bearring for it.