Chevy 350 chewing up distributor gears

[bigheck]

We have been running a IMCA 350 Chevy engine for the past couple of years and the distributor gear lasts about 4-5 races before the teeth are worn off. We have spaced the distributor up and down throughout the past two seasons, bought a new distributor, ran two different engines and all have the same result. We are running the brass gears in order to help save the camshaft, but the first time it happened was with a steel gear.

Looking for any thoughts about what might be causing this......tired of buying gears every few races.

[Verdoorn Racing]

What brand bronze gear is it? I believe we've had similar problems with the PRC bronze gears.

[fast_crew]

Run the Melonized (sp) steel gear. Shouldn't have any problems with that one. Not sure what oil pump/oil pressure your running but bronze gears don't like high volume/pressure pumps.

[salsakiller]

What kind of cam are you running. I had the same problem on a hydraulic cam and we found that you have to run a steel gear with ours or it will tear the gear up. Also, have you checked the cam for being bent? sounds out in left field but that was the biggest part of my problem was the cam we bought from a company was bent slightly from factory and the problems didnt show up until after about 14 nights with running a bronze gear.

[rgrmotorsports]

make sure gear is shimmed to right height to match cam...

[JustAddDirt]

also make sure you do not have access camshaft walk front to rear.
if cam is moving excessively, it will try and chew up a gear.
check your camshaft end play, and adjust accordingly.
are you running a camshaft button so you can adjust endplay?
does your water pump have a tab on it with a setscrew to tighten up against timing chain cover to adjust the end play?

[rgrmotorsports]

good post just add dirt! wasn't sure how if they just running stocker motor or big motor...