Cam change/ 10 year Milodon gear drive inspection
 

Occasionally, the Milodon single idler gear drive is discussed here. I'm doing a cam change and thought I'd share some pictures/impressions of how it's held up. I think I put it in service in 2009, but may have been '10. I'm getting older I don't remember exactly.... I don't put a lot of miles on my car generally. I'd guess maybe 5000 miles tops in that time. But it has been driven in all conditions, raced a few times. I'd guess the hardest conditions are idling when not a lot of oil is being slung around. It's done a LOT of idling, mostly during my sequential efi project what with having to manually tune idle fueling and iac operation. These gears look really good. Any imperfections in the pics are where the top layer of the coating has been lightly rubbed off. I was unsure what to expect, as this was my first one. But I followed the directions exactly and being an outside machinist I'm used to dealing with gears and backlash. I'd say use with confidence if it fits your application. Sorry for the sideways pics, it's just as infuriating for me...

Thanks for sharing!
It looks great in terms of ware and proves at least to me that if your willing to put up with some gear noise in a street motor that running a chain and gear set up is akin to when early railroads ran on wood rails!

On the subject of noise, you'd never know it was there. It's NOT noisy like a dual idler. If I can remember, when I get it running, I'll record a video and link to it.

Second that. I've had this gear drive in my engine since '08 and it is silent.
Have never looked at it since installed.

My M/T blown hemi has used that gear drive since day one, never a problem, often seeing 9,000 RPM.
After setting up the lash I dowel pinned the plate to the block, to ease teardown/reassembly.

Yeah I was thinking about that. I may pin mine as well.

I ran one of these for years. Never had a issue. Was very quiet and the timing was rock steady. Switched to a billet/gear chain set up and I am replacing them every couples years with the high spring pressures I run.
When I pull it back out, I will buy another Milodon.

That was my reason for trying it. Got tired of chain stretch.

Is that setup indexable to adjust cam timing?

Yes. But only in certain increments. Uses a "vernier bolt pattern".

Those increments are as fine as you could need- a little over one degree at the cam, if I remember right(?).

I believe the increments with the bolts are 2, 4, 6.5, 7.5, 10, and 12. Advance or retard.