383 Milodon Intermediate Shaft Gear Unusual Wear

There is only a couple hours run time on the engine, cam break in procedure then a drive to town and back, there is not a lot of run time on these parts. The gear on the intermediate shaft looks like there is a million miles on it already. I have never seen one with this kind of wear. Everything was new. New cam bearings, bronze bushing in block, camshaft, Milodon intermediate shaft, Milodon HV/HP oil pump. I am using Milodon external oil system 21001 because I messed up the threaded part in the block for the pick up (don't ask). This is the kit that spaces the oil pump away from the block for their plate with the oil pick up. So I have to use there shaft.
We chucked the intermediate shaft in a drill press and the shaft has a wobble to it. So did the bend in the shaft happen before or after it was run in the engine? I got a new milodon intermediate shaft and a gear from Hughes, I'm putting a standard volume oil pump in and a new bronze bushing in the block. My question is do I need to replace the camshaft? I took pictures through the distributor hole. Looks like there is a little discoloration on the camshaft gear, but doesn't look like its worn, not like the gear on the intermediate shaft anyways. I'll take better pictures when I take the valley tray off.

Camshaft is a Mopar Performance solid lifter cam, P4120659

put a oil primer in and spin
by hand and see if it binds in the pump ,also check if distributor shaft is too long ,remove bottom of oil pump and check for scratches on cover , good luck. it doesn't look like the cam to drive was too tight or it would be tight all the way around also something may have fallen and went into the gears.

Do not run a bronze gear on that cam.

Jadaharabi said:

Do not run a bronze gear on that cam.

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I'm not. The gear is from Hughes Engines. Supposed to be able to run it with any cam:

Hughes Engines

Just a thought here- did you install a new intermediate shaft bushing? If so, did you burnish/ ream it to size after installation? If not, it could be binding and causing some of the issues you had...

Professor Fate said:

Just a thought here- did you install a new intermediate shaft bushing? If so, did you burnish/ ream it to size after installation? If not, it could be binding and causing some of the issues you had...

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The machine shop was supposed to replace the bushing when all the other machine work was being done to the blcok.

I have never seen that before. The wear doesn't seem consistent all around the gear, like it's out-of-round. I would replace shaft and gear.

Murray said:

I have never seen that before. The wear doesn't seem consistent all around the gear, like it's out-of-round. I would replace shaft and gear.

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I chucked the shaft into a drill press and it has a wobble to it. The wear on the gear moved closer to the edge of the teeth in relation to the bend.

The question is did the shaft bend when it was running in the engine or it was bent when I put it in the engine new.

And is the cam OK.

I would tend to think it was defective from the beginning. The shaft is supported by the bushing nearby, so not easily bent. You may have found your problem.