Gear drive pumps

I have read through the searches and the majority of them on this subject to say about building a unit with a Gear Drive pump. I’m trying to get a consensus of who operates and 8 gallon per minute Gear Drive pump and if there’s any issues with it. I’m looking at the water dragon 3500 PSI 8 gallons per minute with the Honda 690 Gear Drive washer. I’m about 2 or 3 weeks out from being able to purchase and would like some feedback on whether to go with the Gear Drive or spend 600 more and go with the poly belt. They both have the Udor pump. What are the pros and cons of each? As always thanks for the opinions.

If the poly chain is all gates and not some knock off. It will outlast your engine and your replacement engine

I’m building gear drives moving forward. The orientation is better for the truck layouts I’m going to be using and I like the 4 bolt swaps if any should go bad.

Otherwise, they cost more and if the gear drive goes bad I’ll probably wish I had the ease of a belt swap.

It’s that easy of a swap??? That almost sounds too good to be true. I was thinking the gears have to be timed like on some fuel pumps or something. If taken care of how many hours roughly are they rated for? We are not that hard on them probably 30 hours a week

Not sure about the hours, but it’s basically a one gear transmission. I can’t tell you how many hours I have on my udor pump. I’d be surprised if the gear drive was any different. And seriously just 4 bolts and you’re in business.

Out of the over dozen machines I’ve built. I’ve only had one belt fail . It failed because the bolts on the pumps came loose and the pump was able to turn a little sideways. Polychains are very specific they absolutely need to run very true. I have several belts with 5000hrs on them still working. I only change them at 5000hrs because that’s what gates recommends

Wow. That reminds me of the Abrams tank sort of. The first time we pulled the pack out of one it took two of us 20 to 30 minutes and it was sitting on the ground talk about user-friendly

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I can’t speak of long term reliability with gear drive since I did the swap earlier this year of 5.5gpm gear drive on a gx390. It’s a bit louder as you can hear the gears whirring…sounds more mechanical. It runs much cooler than a direct drive and sucks water like a belt drive. It’s run perfectly for me so far.

What I can speak of is the ease of the swap…as mentioned…4 bolts and you’re done. A few on here have built 8 and 5.5gpm gear drive machines.

That’s awesome. I’m planning on going to Nashville in 2 to 3 weeks to get a cold water machine as well as and are driven roof/softwash system. So far it sounds like your drive may be the way to go. I’m just unfamiliar with them.

I Owen a Udor gear drive set up, I’m only at 5gpm but I have no complaints here… Draws water from the buffer tank and the set up has proven to be reliable so far…

A belt drive is still the best way to go though, hence why it’s more expensive… The belt drive system is easier on the engine and pump because the load is absorbed by the belt and not by gears… I’ve heard the gear drives over time chew up the engines crank key way… My set up is going strong and I love it! I’m gonna beat it til it drops! But when it comes to upgrade I’ll be doing a belt drive.

From what I understand they’re a lot more compact.

Im looking at getting a gear drive for my next machine. I like the compactness and the idea of being able to unscrew 4 bolts and have another pump on. I considered poly chain drive but have read that because of the chain having very little give like a belt it puts much more of a side load which can wear out the engine shaft bearings.

That is incorrect. Poly chains don’t have to be as tight as vbelts because they have teeth. There isn’t much down side to poly chain other than price.

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I have nothing against gear drive . I like the idea I’ve just stayed away from them because of there limited ratios and history of being crap back in the day . I’m sure there better now . I would like to hear from someone that has several thousand hours on one in the upper HP range. I have a feeling that might be hard to find.

Polychains are like timing belts used for engines, injection pumps, motorcycle drive belts, etc.

Proven technology. They work.

When doing research on gear drive pumps last year I was reading a thread on propowerwash.com from a few years ago with Russ Johnson and others commenting on them. One of them from Orlando runs all gear drive pumps with 10gpm Udors and 8gpm Generals with no problems. I don’t think there’s huge advantages of one over the other…just preference.

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You should keep this in mind for about 90% of what’s posted on this entire forum. Lol the other 10% you’ll learn is pretty bad advice.

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I know this was a long time ago, but I’m about to out on an Udor gear drive on my Honda GX390. Any idea what size those 4 bolts are?

@softworks You should just start a new thread. You’re reviving old threads and asking questions to people who haven’t been on the forum in a long time.

But props to you for doing some research on the forum and trying to find the answer. If I knew the answer, I’d tell you.

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Sorry, I thought it would alert the person to whom I responded even though it was a long time ago. Next time I’ll start a new thread. Thanks!

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