Cannondaleriders

i'm rebuilding my engine and am wondering if it's worth while replacing the gears that drive the oil pump with metal ones instead of plastic. i've seen them for like 250 bucks, and if it doesn't make a differance, would rather put the money towards other stuff. anybody know?

The are $100 average, any more than that is too much.

There is an ongoing debate on this.

Side A - Cannondale originally spec'd metal gears. When Cannondale started going cheap, things became plastic, like the rear oil inlet on the engine (from the frame) and the oil pump gears, among other things. I have not had metal gears strip. Some say they have stripped the aluminum gear on the tranny pump. I have seen a broken metal tooth before, but never in our engines. The metal gears typically allow the pumps to have extra torque to chew through the small particles and send them on their way. This has been my experience.

Side B - Enjoys having metal gears as a fail safe for their pump. Some people do not want the small particles of metal to cycle through their pump and would rather the pump stop so they can clean the particles out. Stopping for even a split second will strip a plastic gear, thereby pressurizing the crankcase, and send the oil puking out of the breather up by the airbox. Unfortunately this results in having to pull the engine, and replace the plastic gears (which are cheap) and clean the pumps out, which requires pulling the crankshaft cartridge plate. This has been my experience.

My experience and belief is that I don't like plastic. I want to put gears in once, and if it chews some metal, oh well. I have filters and magnets everywhere, so I really don't mind. I am tired of pulling engines, and I hate it when scavenge pump gears strip. I have actually bought a couple quads really cheap because of a stripped scavenge pump gear. It is a silly reason to pull the engine. Maybe someone else has time to do that all the time, not me. Our group of 20+ Dales use metal gears exclusively, with no problems. Plastic gears have all been trashed because they stripped.

Don't let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't do. Some like plastic, some like metal. There is no right or wrong, just a choice and a consequence. With metal it is cost, with plastic it is potential for early failure. You choose.

Go plastic they're cheap, put money towards other stuff. If you put together a clean motor and put magnets through out you should never have a problem. Put the money towards magnets. I've seen metal gears not stop and all that happened was something else gave up, which was the pin that drives the pump. That pin sheared killing both parts of the oil pump and the pump shaft. At that time plastic gears were like $18. But to replace that pump and shaft and pin was a lot more then $18. If something is going to go through the pump odds are something is going wrong and the motor needs attention anyways. Magnets are a way better investment IMO.

Magnets is a good investment when it comes to dales.

That pretty much sums it up.