I tried to run a hydraulic roller, but it didn't match with my driving style, and inadequate valve spring pressure limited my higher rpm usage to the point of valve train instability. I went with a solid roller and would never go back to hydraulic roller in an RB application.

I did find that intermediate shaft gear wear can be substantially reduced by using a collar on the distributor shaft to limit the up and down movement on the intermediate shaft gear, which controls and stabilizes the contact area between the cam gear and the intermediate shaft gear.

Without the collar on the distributor shaft, the distributor shaft tang and the female receiving slot on the intermediate shaft are what limits the up and down movement of the intermediate shaft. Mine was able to move up and down almost 1/4 of an inch before the tang would bottom out, and that excessive movement really wore the softer intermediate shaft gear. I switched to the melonized gear when I installed the new solid roller AND I run the collar. Wear is virtually nil at this point.

On a related note, I also run the aluminum body Milodon oil pump with the altered gearator shape compaared to the stock gearator design, which requires less power to spin and consequently reduces the load on those two gears at a given rpm.