gear drive or chain

[lafrance]

Currently have the pan off of my 94 Blazer to repair oil leak.Turns out front seal was leaking so I have decided to re+re the front cover and deal with the timing chain issue also.I already have the ho water pump and dual stat crossover.Please advise asto wether chain or gears is the best way to go also any install tips would be appreciated

[damork]

There was an article posted earlier this year in the members area that discussed this. You will find a lot of opinions reading the various posts.

I just installed the gears on mine and am not looking back - it is the smoothest my truck has ever run and I have 163,000 miles on it. I really believe the crank failures that happen on a few trucks are the result of bad crank harmonic balancers or pulleys. I talked with Jamie at Avant engines and I believe he has over 300 engines built with the gear drive. Same story from other builders I have talked to.

I did the HO water pump, dual thermostats, Duramax fan and cam drive gears all together. I installed a new harmonic balancer for insurance while I was at it. It has never started as good as it does now either.


Here are some photos of the job I posted on the web:
http://community.webshots.com/album/42727688JuUMeK

[lafrance]

Thanks Damork,
Have just finished installing gears and seals.I lined up the dots on the gear drive(crank to cam) then rotated the crank 1 revolution to line up the injection pump gear dot. It started up o.k. but will need to get my offset checked is there any other timing needs other than offset that need to be addressed. I also installed the new harmonic balancer. The serpentine crank pulley looked good.Lafrance

[DamienJ]

Damork I was looking at your pics and was wondering where you got that tool.(The pressreluctor)
I am also about to do the timing gears(phazer) and a new fuel injection pump. Any helpful hints?

[tanker]

I have run the phaser gears in two of my engines. They run "crisper", without any excessive noise. Seemed to have more power when first installed, but then timing was altered as well. Go for it while its apart.