hi guys im in the process of rebuiding the 350 and im thinking about replacing the timing chain with a set of pete jackson gear drives anyone got them in their smallblock are they as anoying as people say they are would you recommend it?

 

hi guys im in the process of rebuilding my 350 and im considering replacing the stock timing chain with a set of pete jackson geardrives are they as anoying as what people say they are what are your opinions?

 

Hi Pete,
Gear drives are notorious for interfering with the knock sensor which will cause the timing to always be trying to retard.

Just thought I would let you know.

Cheers

Richard

 

try and do a search on the boards for this topic. The stories of knock sensors being set off by gear drives are greatly exagerated. The only Pete Jackson unit that will fit our cars is the quiet unit and from what Ive read, many people run them without problems. I plan on running that exact unit as soon as I do my heads and cam.

 

But why run one??

 

Good question, why run one?

Theres only 2 good reasons I can think of:
Will never wear out, timing will always be accurate.
You happen to like the noise.

Really, double roller chains have come a long way. I'd be surprised to see a good quality one wear out within a reasonable amount of mileage. If you are just looking for lifespan, consider the double roller, its cheaper and certainly quieter.

Some will debate all day long about HP losses, lifespan of double rollers, and valvetrain harmonics. Others, like above, insist on spreading the rumor about false knock. I really love the note about false knock on Fords... maybe those people would like to point out the non-existant knock sensor to me.

I have one, its the 'quiet' version but IMO its anything but quiet. Its tolerable though. Its been on the car 8 years now, I am still waiting for the false knock events to occur. Check my reply on Tech/General engine and you'll find a link to a sound file of a gear drive.

 

I refuse to spend more money for somthing useless.
If I want blower whine, I will buy a blower. I don't want people to be disappointed when I pop the hood looking for a blower and find a 120 dollar gear drive was making the sound. My opinion.

 

Useless? LOL its hardly useless. I wont be pulling my timing cover to replace a worn out chain, ever. Thats not useless.

 

I'm assuming that since you're in the TPI area you're going to keep your TPI. I've heard that gear drives cause a noise that the knock sensor picks up and thinks it's detonation. I don't know how true this is, but I wouldn't want to build a motor, fire it up and all, just to have to take a bunch of s&^t apart to go back to a chain. Maybe someone else might have experience with this. I read this in a Q&A section of a hot rod magazine.

 

I should just give up....

Can I say something here? Can we stop spreading that myth, PLEASE? Its like the plague, and everyone has to keep spreading it all over, especially those damn magazines.

Begin FAQ
Pete Jackson quiet gear drive does not cause false knock.
End FAQ

 

Like he said.... I ran around with one for a while and did not have any problems.

 

thanks for the opinions guys much appreciated

 

I'm running the PJ silent gear drive and I've never had a prob with the low hum creating false-knock. It's worked great and it looked brand new during the last 3 tear-downs I did on my 350 for mods. No shavings. No problems. I love it.

 

WERD!

 

I plan on running a PJ quiet geardrive when I do my TPI swap. Both my cars have a PJ geardrive. My question is why can only the quiet one work? The only differance between the quiet and noisy units is the clearance between the gears. My curiousity was up and had to ask.

 

It may work, I've never tried it. I know for a fact the quiet one doesnt create any problems. Last time I checked, there wasnt a PJ noisy drive for the factory roller cam setup so thats not really an option unless you ditch the factory stuff. I actually like the cam retainer plate rather than a button.

 

I also have a Pete Jackson quiet gear drive in my car and have no false knock. I have run Diacom software in the car to confirm that there is NONE. I ran it at normal speeds with the software and took it down the 1/4 mile a few passes, Nothing..... I have been running it now for about 2 and a half years.

 

Opps....sorry. I keep forgetting about the differances between the early and later blocks and the roller cam stuff. Sorry....nevermind me.....I'll just slide outta here....

I am glad for the extra votes of confidence since I was gonna try this anyway. I like doing what they say can't be done...but I guess it has been proved it CAN be done. I'm a frontier but I'm usually late in getting it done. Oh well...