Coming back from moab the truck took a crap. Pulled the distrubutor and the teeth where stripped off. A local mechanic said its a common problem with Fords because of poor oiling in that area. Any one heard of this and is there a solution? OH yea '87 f350 with 460

my amc did it because of a slightly bent dist. shaft. it stripped the gears on the cam too. good chance your cam is screwed also.

The cam gears looked ok. They better be,it is a custom ground roller cam. Kinda pricey. Stuck a new distributor in and it seems to be running fine for now.

if you have a hv hp pump it will cause it to do the same thing. also since you are running a roller cam and not a hardened gear it will chew it up. i ran my 289 hei on my 5.0 roller motor and it ate up the gear.

Napa shows a steel gear and a cast gear. Is the steel one the right one or do I need to call a high performance shop? I really don't need steel gear pieces floating around my expensive engine.I have a standard oil pump.

i dont have any help, but i did this once in a 3.0 ranger going down the freeway.

460 camwalk isn't uncommon. Rollor torrington bearing is the Proper fix. Change your oil too.........:)


Buzz :jester:

Check your pump. I had a 351w do that to me because the pump was starting to sieze and the resistance stripped the gears. Id be scared running the motor with the crap floating in there too. When I pulled the pan on that 351w there was shavings all over.

I had the same issue on my 351W after going roller, gear mismatch. Lasted about 100 miles. I have also heard of oil pumps going out and causing the issue.

I called the engine builder today. He said I can go with a bronze gear or some high tech plastic one. I think I'm also going to call Comp cams and talkto them. The oil pump is fine, I did cange the oil and installed a magnetic oil drain plug. What is a roller torrington bearing? Thanks for all the input without the smart ass answers that I see so often.

It's a bearing that goes on the front of the roller camshaft to keep to from walking back in forth. Some have plastic buttons to keep them in line as well.

Roller cams have to use a steel drive gear (or bronze) instead of a cast iron one since the camshaft is not as hard of material as iron. That is unless it has an iron gear pressed on. It's a real common thing with 5.0L swaps. Just make sure you change your oil.

I called the engine builder today. He said I can go with a bronze gear or some high tech plastic one.
Running a stock dizzy gear on roller cam is your problem. Go ahead and check with Comp, but your engine builder is 100% correct.

you need a steel or bronze gear