Gear drives?

Looking to switch to a gear drive on my 440. Anyone have any luck with this style gear drive?
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/20361/10002/-1

Why? It is a HP loss on average--do you just want the noise? If you want the whine then hey go for it! It is very popular--they sell tons of them but if you are after best performance it is not the way to go
Bear in mind you may have to grind on the block some depending on which unit you get--and if you were planning an in car install that would make it a no go
This is all just my opinion--you want the whine--I say do it

Well many many many years ago i used to run a noisey one on my camaro and loved it. i have the motor out installing new gaskets and detailing. Figured id check the chain out and if its bad id put a gear drive in it. I used to run the car and it will run 12.0s but pretty much over the racing. Just want to cruise. I see the Milodon style is totally different than this one.

X2....
The gear drive noise is a product of friction. Not what you typically look for in engine parts, I’d worry about the harmonics creating issues in the valvetrain, but that’s just me. If you’re just looking to turn heads as you cruise, that’ll do the job.

When that type(Jackson) of dual idler gear drives first came out they where a cheap alternative to the better racing brands like Milidon, Keith Black and Donovan. A friend of mine bought one for his BB Chey powered 1955 Thunderbird Modified Production car, one of the ends of a Tru Arc snap ring broke off and ended up in the oil pump shearing the shaft off ruining the motor
He went back to a good timing set after that
I have used several different brands of the conventional gear drives and a Jesel belt drive as well as a bunch of the real expensive racing timing sets, pick your poison All of them can fail if you beat on them long enough

I think those are made in chino. Milodon's are USA, at least that's what they claim.

If you are going to run a gear drive (I do, even in my SFT street engine) spend the money and buy the fixed idler style like the Milodon.

They don't make noise, they don't cost HP and they don't break cranks. For all I've heard, there is not ONE test I can find that proves any of that when comparing a chain or a belt to a fixed idler gear drive.

Spend the money, buy the Milodon and forget it.

Ran one for 20+ years without issue. Ran several cams with the same drive.

My brother has two engines with the Milodon gear drives. They do make a small amount of sound, but you only really notice it at idle. I can hear it because I know to listen for it, but I bet most people don't pick up on it. Once you put the car in gear and drive away the little sound it produces is drowned out by the exhaust.

I would buy a Milodon or just stick with a nice chain setup if you don't want to spend the $$$.

Milodon on my Challenger since 2005. It's been off and on the engine a couple times and had a couple of different cams. Pretty cool deal when you can dial in your cam and forget about it. Like a 40spline Dana 60. All I ever do is replace the lifters and intermediate shaft gear every couple hundred passes. I have a Jesel belt that I haven't to this day installed. If you are going to spend the money on a quality piece I would go ahead and buy the Jesel. If I could afford it, I would get a crank driven oil pump and an F.I. unit and eliminate ALL the gears from the engine.

I've got a Million unit on my 605. I won't even consider a timing chain. I have .060 clearance between the cam lobes and the rods.

Ran one on the last engine break-in. Crank gear was a sloppy fit on the crank and required shim stock shimming for a zero fit. Cam bolts were cheap and required replacement. Buttons on idler gears grooved timing cover; nice little circles like eye balls after a few hours of run time.

But, FWIW my memory tells me it was a China brand. So....

Dual idlers can not compensate for any deviation in crank height from line honing. If the block was line honed then the fit will be tight - maybe too tight. Or left stock it could be too loose. Years ago I had a Milodon style but it could have been a Donovan or KB. It had an adjustable idler. The problem was the idler was a different diameter than the other two gears so if you started dialing in the cam with the dots lined up, they didn't line up again after one crank revolution. If you forgot how many turns you'd done you had to remove the sprockets to line the dots up again. I gave up and switched to a chain. With the Milodon style, water pump clearance will be an issue and then the crank pulley will need a spacer.

There is no good reason to run a gear drive when belt drives are available!!

My crank guy has a 7 second car and he went from a gear drive to a belt and lost 60ft time. Put the gear drive back on out of curiosity and the car went back to what it used to run. He suspected the belt was stretching under load and altering the timing.

I've used a Pete Jackson (that style) before. There's nothing wrong with them. They will work like everything else. Easy to set up. And I guess the 18 year old in me likes the whine.

We put a Pete Jackson in my sons 413 62 300.It was in at least 15 years and nevar a problem.Was still going good when he sold it.He put lots of highway miles and strip trips also.Probally more than most here.Rocky

Have the same Milodon drive for 25 years.If set up and clearanced properly it's not much whine.The whine on the blower is not that bad inless the belt is very tight.

I agree with mad scientist. I have a milodon gear drive in my 408 stroker. I can't hear the whine over the exhaust.

Do the Milodon drives fit under a stock cover?

All of the after market BB three gear drives, Milidon, KB and Donovan have the idler gear attached in the timing cover, so no they won't fit under a stock cover

Only on engines with a thick, cast timing cover. So, small block Chrysler's, pontiacs...damn I think FE ford but for the life of me I can't think of what that cover looks like, the 385 series fords.

You get the idea. If it's a stamped tin cover then you need a cast aluminum cover to fix the idle to.

I run mine on a street car, with street mufflers. My gear drive makes zero noise. If I don't tell you it's there, you won't know it.

I've had people call me a liar at a car show I went to. I was talking to a few guys about it when I parked and I mentioned it was a gear drive. They had me start it again. When they couldn't "hear" the gear drive they said I was a bullshitter and walked away.

And how do you prove what you have if the gear drive is under the cover? Pull it apart I guess.

Why would you want to argue with car shows guy
Aren't all of them car Experts, in their own minds
I have that same problem here, a bunch of show and shine guys

I guess I'm kind of car show and race. It ran mid 10's with a little nitrous old school .590 and a Pete Jackson Noisy gear drive. I degreed the cam at 106 if I remember right. No issues with the gear drive. Ran it on a couple cams. First installed around 1993 and was in the engine when I sold it.

From what I've read, belts have less harmonics and are supposed to be faster. I have yet to read about anyone with real world experience that actually gained hp or lost et with/without one.

My new Hemi has a chain. MM asked me if I wanted a belt or chain. I asked if there was any HP to be gained with a belt. Mike said no.

My slow pig

I've had people call me a liar at a car show I went to.

Quite useful: you didn't know they were idiots until they self-identified: that's a "tell".

Ran a Milodon gear drive in the 572 (it came with it's own cover), hated the noise so changed it to a Jesel belt drive when funds allowed. No difference in ET and the valves springs still needed replacing at the end of the season.