I was fearful of Loctite for the same reasons stated above - no way to prevent it from going where I didn't want it.
I used a sharp center punch to raise material on the shaft just where the gear goes. This worked fine, and the gear became a nice tight fit.
The gear is made of pot metal, or zinc alloy, and will "creep" in time to alleviate stress. You could argue that it is a poor design, but heck, most cars aren't designed to last 20 years, much less 30 or more.