What Cloyes Gear & Products makes

Cloyes Gear & Products is a designer, developer, manufacturer, and distributor of timing drive systems and engine timing components for both original equipment manufacturers and the automotive aftermarket. The core catalog is engine timing hardware: timing chain kits that bundle chains, sprockets, tensioners, and guides; True Roller timing sets, a design the company patented in 1970; and the infinitely adjustable Hex-A-Just timing system introduced in 1992. Cloyes also builds water pump kits, variable valve timing components, and high-performance timing sets for racing and high-output engines. Two acquisitions widened the line: Rotomaster in 2023 added turbochargers and turbo components, and Automotive Tensioners Incorporated in 2024 added front-end accessory drive pulleys and tensioners.

The manufacturing side is anchored by the plant in Paris, Arkansas, which the company says has more than 50 years of experience machining powertrain gears, sprockets, and idler assemblies. Key processes on the floor include CNC turning, gear hobbing and shaping, keyway broaching, and in-house induction heat treatment run on two induction machines and a tempering furnace, with finishing and a metrology lab supporting both production and engineering. Beyond its own timing products, the Paris plant runs contract gear and sprocket machining for other manufacturers.

Ownership and history

Raymond T. Cloyes founded the company in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1921, which puts its operating history at more than a century. The business grew through the aftermarket and OEM channels over the decades, established an OEM sales office in 1982, acquired Timing Gear Corporation in 1989, and opened its dedicated aftermarket distribution center in Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1997 alongside its acquisition of RFR Chain. It added the timing component business of Dynagear in 2003 and set up an aftermarket operation in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in 2004.

The current owner is MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm that acquired Cloyes in 2022. The prior owner, Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, had held the company since 2018. Cloyes now operates as part of the MOP-Cloyes platform alongside Rotomaster. In August 2026 the platform named Robert Frazier as Chief Operating Officer and Doug Havekost as Chief Financial Officer, both reporting to Chairman, President and CEO John Hanighen, who joined Cloyes in 2020 from Ford and was later appointed Chairman by MidOcean. Frazier joins from senior operations roles at Cummins and Meritor and began his career at Toyota; Havekost brings more than 30 years of manufacturing finance leadership, most recently as CFO of HDT Global.

Manufacturing footprint

Cloyes is headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where it runs distribution and engineering operations. Its manufacturing plant sits in Paris, Arkansas, and holds the company's gear and sprocket production. Two international sites support the business: a distribution and engineering center in Aguascalientes, Mexico, established in 2004, and an engineering and sales office in Shanghai, China, established in 2016. The company sells under the Cloyes brand worldwide and the Dynagear and CY-LENT brands in North America, serving wholesale distributors, national and local retailers, re-packagers, and production engine rebuilders.

Certifications and quality

The Paris, Arkansas plant is certified to ISO 9001:2015, per the company's manufacturing page, with a quality and metrology lab that supports both production and engineering development. The lab is equipped with coordinate measuring machines, a Gleason gear analyzer, and hardness testing, and the plant maintains thousands of attribute gauges for in-process inspection on the shop floor. Every part the plant manufactures passes a final inspection audit before release to finished goods. Cloyes states its products are tested and verified to meet OE specifications.

Known customers

Cloyes names several customers of its Paris manufacturing plant directly on its own site, which is unusual for a components manufacturer and useful for buyers assessing program credibility.

These are OE and marine programs the company itself discloses, not inferred relationships. They span automotive OEM work, marine engines, and a named Tier 2 role on a high-profile vehicle platform.

Sourcing evidence

Cloyes appears in US customs records with 590 sea import shipments since 2015, with the most recent on August 23, 2026. The import mix reads the way a timing-component maker's should: bills of lading are dominated by transmission shafts, gears, and sprockets (HS chapter 84, 293 shipments) and motor-vehicle parts (HS chapter 87, 221 shipments), with chain and plastic guides filling out the rest. That is components and sub-assemblies flowing in to support its kits, consistent with a manufacturer and kit assembler rather than a pure reseller. Import volume is rising: the company logged 30 shipments over the trailing 12 months against 17 in the prior 12, a 77% increase.

The record names 26 foreign suppliers. The most active:

Eight shown of 26 recorded suppliers. Origin countries are led by China (432 shipments) and Taiwan (115), with a smaller flow from France, Germany, and Austria. Buyers weighing tariff exposure and nearshoring will note that the import supply base is concentrated in East Asia even as the company operates a domestic gear plant in Arkansas and a distribution and engineering center in Mexico.

Coverage caveats apply. These are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, most shipments are house bills that name freight forwarders rather than manufacturers, and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Cloyes Gear & Products make?

Cloyes makes timing drive systems and engine timing components: timing chain kits, sprockets, tensioners, guides, True Roller timing sets, Hex-A-Just adjustable timing systems, water pump kits, and high-performance timing sets. Since 2023 and 2024 it has also offered turbochargers through Rotomaster and accessory drive pulleys and tensioners through Automotive Tensioners Incorporated. It manufactures powertrain gears and sprockets at its plant in Paris, Arkansas.

Who owns Cloyes Gear & Products?

Cloyes has been owned by MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm, since 2022. The prior owner was Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, which held the company from 2018. Cloyes operates as part of the MOP-Cloyes platform alongside Rotomaster. The company was founded by Raymond T. Cloyes in 1921.

Where is Cloyes Gear & Products located?

Cloyes is headquartered in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where it runs distribution and engineering operations. Its manufacturing plant is in Paris, Arkansas. It also operates a distribution and engineering center in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and an engineering and sales office in Shanghai, China.

Who are Cloyes Gear & Products' customers?

Cloyes names American Axle & Manufacturing and Mercury Marine as customers of its Paris, Arkansas plant, and states it is the Tier 2 manufacturer for the Chevrolet Corvette Mid-Engine crankshaft sprocket. In the aftermarket it serves wholesale distributors, national and local retailers, re-packagers, and production engine rebuilders.

What certifications does Cloyes Gear & Products hold?

Cloyes states that its Paris, Arkansas manufacturing plant is certified to ISO 9001:2015. The plant runs a quality and metrology lab with coordinate measuring machines, a Gleason gear analyzer, and hardness testing, and every manufactured part passes a final inspection audit before release.

How long has Cloyes been in business?

Cloyes was founded in 1921 by Raymond T. Cloyes in Cleveland, Ohio, giving it more than 100 years of operating history in the timing drive and engine component business. It has been a fixture of the automotive aftermarket for over a century and added OEM manufacturing and international operations over the decades.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.