Distributor gear question

[Justin V]

I am looking at pulling the trigger on an MSD 85501 locked out dizzy so I can use the timing control side of my FiTech...
It comes with a bronze gear, and I have a stock hydraulic flat tappet camshaft.

Does the bronze gear need to be changed?

If so, is a MSD 8531 Iron gear suitable?

 

[Kain]

ask summit racing, its what i would do before ordering

 

[skunked]

yep bronze is fine.

 

[bigblock72]

yep bronze is fine.

Cast iron will last a long time, the bronze will likely wear out in 10k miles or less. Either gear is compatible with the cam.

 

[paratrooper307]

I wouldn't use bronze unless the truck sees very low mileage. Bronze is typically only used in race applications for billet or solid cams because it doesn't last. Go with iron or composite (preferably iron, since it's a lot cheaper).

 

[Justin V]

I ordered the Iron gear. With the current sale on MSD products, it ended up being no more expensive than the dizzy was supposed to be by itself.

 

[6872xtc]

Ok, now that you made a decision, time for the useless info..


If you take the time to get a decent pattern on the gears, a bronze gear will go quite a ways. I had one in my '72 for maybe 5000 miles (?). When I swapped out the distributor the bronze gear still looked great. My '70 still has one, but I haven't looked at it for a while.
I went composite on the new dizzy in the '72, since I needed a new gear for the new distributor. Both of those trucks have solid roller cams, is why I couldn't use iron.

 

[Bent77]

Iron gear for hydraulic lifters and bronze for solid/roller

Least that’s how we did it when rocks were still soft

 

[skunked]

Never had a problem with bronze and I'd rather eat a distributor gear over a cam.