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*Pics* Is this normal? Who has installed a gear drive?

mountainexplorer

mountainexplorer

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I just tried putting a Cloyes gear drive in a 400SB I have. There's seemingly way too much play.

It's a 4 gear setup (dual idler), and I can take one of the idler gears and move it over 1/8 of an inch up and down. Turning the crank back and forth, it takes a bit before the gears to turn the cam because of the play.

Now on the gear on the crank, there are three "ways" it can get lined up... with three symbols- a triangle, rectangle and square with a rounded top edge. Right now i have the dot on the bottom of the cam gear lined up with the rectangle on the crank gear.

Does it matter which symbol I am using to line it up?
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

It has been a very very long time since I did any thing with a gear drive so hopefully somebody else will chime in here. The different marks I think are for differnt amounts of cam degree. Were there some small bushings that came with the kit? Maybe cloyes can help out. give em a call.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

I have a sb 400 with the cloyes gear drive, and i didnt have any problems with play, but when i had to put on the pullies the top one was inward about a 1/4 of and inch, so i had to put a spacer on it, and we think with the gear drive, the bottom pully was pushed out a little more. So be careful with that, but if you got the really noisey one you will love it. I love mine, people are always askin me if i have supercharger under it which is cool i guess. Any ways, i didnt have the loose or play problems ur having, but i will check into it and let you know more about it, and just becareful with those pullies. so i will try and get more info for you tomorrow.
Cory.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

the 3 keys are for either advancing the cam,retarding the cam,or strait up.. its 2 crank degrees...and that makes it 4 degrees at the cam...ide install it strait up....the triangle is advanced,the square mark is retarded,and the round is oem,or strait up as i call it....certain blocks have more or less clearance between the centerline of the crank to the centerline of the cam...an 1/8 inch seems alot ot to me...i have a pete jackson here....tomorrow after work i can install a cam and check it if needed...
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Thanks guys for the replies. It's a used gear drive thatI pulled out of a 383 before I sold it. I pulled it and set it on the shelf exactly as it came out, but with nothing else than just the gears themselves... no spacers or anything else.

Does the type of cam change what key I should be using?

Again, it's a SB400 motor, with a Comp 292 duration, .510/.510 lift cam.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

yes, i have personally run that cam in a 400...and installed it on the retarded setting accidently....not a good thing...put it strait up and youll be happy /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Ok, I've got it setup so its lined up with the circle on the bottom gear. Still, I can take the cam gear, and move it back and forth and it moves the outer eedge of the gear over 1/8th of an inch back and forth. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Are the cam bearings shot?
What I am picturing in my mind, that is not a good thing....
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

I just installed a gear drive on my 350, it's a pete jackson but I could move the cam in and out some but installed a cam button so it should not have that much play when the cover is installed.
I lined up the dots, crank on top and cam on bottom, hope this was the right way to set the crank and cam gears

Kerwin
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Well, if at first you don't succeed, try again.

I took another gear drive that I got from KennyW that also was a good one, and put it on for comparison. It's exactly the same. With the gears all sitting there lined up as should be, I can still take the cam gear and move it side to side (not as in cam walk, but as it play in the gears).

I suppose with oil circulating, and considering the motor is constantly spinning one direction, maybe this much play is normal?

I mean, with a constant one-direction rotation of the motor, it wouldn't be constantly slapping the teeth of the gears back and forth like it does when I rotate the cam gear from side to side.

The only thing that worries me with that amount of play is acceleration and compression... meaning the motor under throttle verses off the throttle (holding back; or compression braking). Then the gears would be subjected to the amount of play there is. /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Pics:

Here's the Cloyes:
3728Gear_Drive_Cloyes-med.jpg


Here's the other one:
3728Gear_Drive2-med.jpg
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

You are refering to backlash.
There should some backlash in just about any kind of gear set.
I just pulled an Ebrock geardrive, I'll stick it back on and see what it has.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

have you called the manufacturer about this?
the distance between the 2 idler gears does look loose
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Show us pics of the cam gear. I suspect you don't have the bushing installed that adjusts timing of the cam.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

Just a thought,,the block has not been align bored on the mains has it?
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

[ QUOTE ]
I suspect you don't have the bushing installed that adjusts timing of the cam.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Cloyes one is installed just as it was on the 383, with no bushing that I can recall. What exactly does the bushing look like? The other gear drive I tried had a copper washer looking bushing that went behind the cam gear.
 
Re: Who has installed a gear drive? Too much play.

'bushing' may be the wrong term to use here. There are normally 5 little gizmo's that come with a new timing gear drive set that allow you to adjust the degree of the camshaft with the timing gear. They will be round with moon shapes in the middle varying from 1/4 moon to 3/4 moon perfectly round. You can see the five timing adjusters in this pic
pjj-327-1c.jpg

Without one of those installed you will have excessive backlash of the gears. I hope this helps.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's a 4 gear setup (dual idler), and I can take one of the idler gears and move it over 1/8 of an inch up and down. Turning the crank back and forth, it takes a bit before the gears to turn the cam because of the play

[/ QUOTE ]
I just installed the Ebrock one back onto a BBC. That's Normal.
With the index marks straight up and using the straight up bushing the idler gear slides right on.. Correct?
Once you start to turn the crank it moves a couple of degrees before the cam does, the right side idler will be snug against the gears and the left on is just kinda floating there.
That's normal.
If you grab the cam and move it back and forth it will seem like alot before the gears mesh.
I would assume that would have been taken into consideration when the drive was devoloped.
The only way to realy know what is going on is to degree the cam and see if it matches the specs.
 
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