Installing a Milodon Gear Drive on a Big Block Chevy

If you’re thinking of buying a gear drive, chances are it’s for one of two reasons: you want more accurate cam timing than a chain can provide or you want that cool gear whine. Both are good, logical rationalizations for spending the grocery money on a car part.

Milodon makes some nice gear drives worthy of your hard-earned cash. All Milodon gear drives are three-gear, “fixed idler” models. The idler gear mounts solidly to the block (Under Cover) or to the cover (Full Cover). This system does not rob any power from the engine, and more importantly, will not allow cam timing to vary. When you dial in a cam connected to a Milodon gear drive, that cam timing stays where you set it.

We used a Full Cover gear drive on a 496 cubic inch big block Chevy. The drive uses an adjustable cam gear and hub assembly to set cam timing, accessible through the removable cam cover. The cam itself is bolted to the hub. When you combine that with rock-solid cam timing and near indestructibility, choosing a Milodon gear drive over a timing chain for your race engine quickly becomes a no-brainer.

You can follow our own install by click on the photo gallery below.

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Parts List
Milodon Full Cover Gear Drive, 1965-90 (MIL-12600)
Milodon Gear Drive Installation Video (MIL-14900)