unbalanced idler gear

[skippytdi]

Hi there.
I got my nice shiny bronze idler the other day and noticed that when holding the idler bolt and spinning the gear by hand (afap -as fast as possible) there was some serious imbalance in the gear.  I did notice that the casting was not concentric to the bore or teeth, and am having a go at machining off the difference but...
My question is that i've been trying to keep up with idler issues, backlash, self detonation, etc and havent noticed any mention of balance and wanted to get some thoughts and input on whether or not this could be a contributing factor in whether one guys idler self destructs five hours in while his neighbors idler has 500 hours and counting. 

[xyzer]

Skippy,
I would not worry about a weight imbalance on the idler gear. If the teeth run out from the bore that would be a big problem.

[skippytdi]

Good deal.
Thanks for the response.