I just called them again and they said I could run a brass or steel gear. He said the brass gear shaft is "sacrificial". My issue is now do I have shavings in my engine? I hate to tear things down to find out I did not need to, only change out the gear.
I talked to 440 Source about the issue. They said to only use a melonized steel gear, and the only source is Hughes Engines. The Hughes website said using a high volume and/or high pressure pump will accelerate the wear of both the intermediate shaft and cam gear. I am running such a pump. My cam gear looks good so hopefully only the shaft gear suffered. Maybe Hughes could make that gear more expensive... Ugh.