Cast vs Aluminum Timing Gears

[WNGLDR]

Hello all and please forgive me if this topic is posted elsewhere, I looked but didn't see it. I'm collecting the parts to change my timing chain and wanted to know the pros and cons, other than weight and price, for cast iron vs aluminum gears in the timing set. I may document and photo everything I do for a future article submission as well. I have a 98 4L OHV 4X4 Ranger with over 200K on the ODO. Thank you, JJ.

 

[veefer800canuck]

I just changed mine in my '94 and AFAIK they were steel.

They are not very big, so the sprockets don't weigh a bunch, I don't think there would be much advantage to aluminum gears, if there is such an animal.

Yeah, I know, reduced rotating mass, but I doubt it would really make one percent worth of difference to the engine.

 

[PlumCrazy]

To my knowledge there is nothing outside of the standard mild steel replacement sets available.

 

[WNGLDR]

I found aluminum at Rockauto.com and was wondering. The price is a little lower too.

 

[veefer800canuck]

Well I can tell you that aluminum sprockets on a motorcycle suck bigtime.

They wear out very rapidly. Probably much better inside a nice clean engine with oil splashing around all the time, but I still would bet on steel, given the choice.

 

[veefer800canuck]

I just looked on Rock Auto, 1998, 4.0, timing set, and did not see any references to aluminum gears?

 

[adsm08]

I would not be putting anything aluminum inside my engine. Period.

 

[veefer800canuck]

Heads, rods, pistons?


(heh, just giving you the 'gears' man)


^^^ see what I did there?

 

[adsm08]

Well, heads are not in the engine.

Pistons and rods are not wearable parts. They don't have anything running over them. The piston is never supposed to come in contact with the cylinder wall, and the wrist pin isn't really supposed to move, not like the timing set does.

The timing gears on the other hand have that chain moving over them all the time. Pretty sure I want steel or iron there.

 

[WNGLDR]

Thanks for all the feedback, I'm not seeing anything about aluminum gears now either so I must have misread something. I've been looking for loads of different parts for my truck and the wife's 03 Grand Prix as well. I'm still a bit surprised at the price ranges though, $90 worth. I was siding on the ITM ENGINE COMPONENTS Part # 05393600 but I'm thinking the CLOYES Part # 94172SA might be the better bet as it's been rated as a favorite. It was brought up that aluminum used as a material for gears just didn't sound right, that's what made me post the question to begin with. Again, thanks to all for the feedback.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Pistons and rods are not wearable parts. They don't have anything running over them. The piston is never supposed to come in contact with the cylinder wall, and the wrist pin isn't really supposed to move, not like the timing set does.

Ring grooves on the pistons do wear from dragging the rings up and down the bores.

 

[adsm08]

Ring grooves on the pistons do wear from dragging the rings up and down the bores.

At an incredibly slow rate.

I have taken apart 200K mile engines that still accepted stock rings and had them fit tight.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

At an incredibly slow rate.

Ideally so do all engine parts.

At the end of the day they do wear... and in my land of sleeved engines pistons are changed just like everything else right back to standard bore with new sleeves.

 

[adsm08]

Ideally so do all engine parts.

Ideally, yes. However I am not confident that an aluminum timing gear would meet that standard.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ideally, yes. However I am not confident that an aluminum timing gear would meet that standard.

Off the cuff I wouldn't put much faith in nylon/plastic ones either... but they last 100k+.