all my trucks have the fiber gears, 216 and 235 engines between 1949-1953
i just replaced one earlier this year, the fiber gear in my 53 GMC 1 Ton failed, i grabbed a slightly worn fiber gear from a partially disassembled 216 i had handy and put it all back together and it runs better than ever,
this engine spun a lot when the fiber gear failed on the highway at 40mph
Would never suspect a failure like the one in your pic. Broken teeth, yes. Maybe someone in the past had hammered the outer edge and weakened it or something. Or perhaps the axial load on angled gears can do that over time, as opposed to straight cut gears.
I'll put up with more noise if it means the gear won't come apart.
Yeah, I'm leaning toward aluminum. Just trying to get past "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mindset that has served very well with this truck!
