swinging distributor

[jandlcox]

I have a distributor that swings pretty bad from the 3 to the 2. The distributor shaft is new and straight so is the universal joint. The b/e motor is tight shaft is straight and their is now grooves in the thing the dist. shaft goes in.

Also new springs on back of dist. Any ideas

[LaRue]

Re: swinging distributor

Check to make sure that the Dist. support is vertical. Some times pin feeds will cause it to tilt a little bit.

[Tall Paul]

Re: swinging distributor

Make sure that the dist. shaft isnt too long. There should be alittle room behind the ball bearings. Taking a couple of coils off of the spring on the right side of dist will usually make it rock steady if the shaft is the proper length.

[jandlcox]

Re: swinging distributor

Shaft seems to be right lenght. As long as the other ones it has a little room after the bearings

[misterx]

Re: swinging distributor

Check your indexing cam for wear. Also when I had this problem over a year ago it ended up being the "Brand X" cams on several machines.

[KLH]

Re: swinging distributor

hey cox Kevin here 13 yr veteran 82-70 mechanic.
the problem is usualy the distributor plum is not leveled this is over looked by alot of people.simply lay a level on top of the orientor pan behind the pin guide ears.if the distributor is not level loosen the bolts holding the dist supt at the pin wheel guard and move til the distributor is shown leveled.this should stop the swinging. at least it does with my machines so good luck let me know outcome please

[Alan Meyers]

Re: swinging distributor

Something else to check...you may need to strengthen either the lateral drive spring or the safety link spring or BOTH of them.

[kevin]

Re: swinging distributor

Yes tightening those springs with a tie wrap works wonders. Another thing I have found is that Some of the universals have real tight boots on them, they are really stiff. you want the ones that flex alot. I can get the part # if you would like.

[JimDorsin]

Re: swinging distributor

Bent or bured safty link rod will also contribute to this. if the Stop blades are catching on the nylon part of the clutch plate, it will hesitate a second before advancing, this will cause sway as well (which would also point towards your concentric rollers not adjusted correctly if it only does it 3 to 2)

[Lafarge..]

Re: swinging distributor

One thing thst I've done if all the other thing that were mentioned have been checked you can put a long spring from the end of the directional arm up to the turn pan finger or arm. This will increase the tention to the safty link and prohibit the sway that you are talking about. Remember this is a quick fix not a permanent solution.

[maister]

Re: swinging distributor

yes pretty well covered.Balance the distributor, remove the springs and ensure the bolt that the springs are attached to is tight. Even a little movement here increases the swing.Tie wrap on spring, the spring on the right looking from the rear.This stretches and some machines work ok with a weak spring others do not.Do not alter the spring on the left.Also ensure that the nut holding the spring at the front
on the left is tight and that the bracket has not got a bend towards the rear.If the bracket is bent simply take it off and reverse it in order that the tension is reinforced.
Good luck.
Laurie,Scotland

[Dutch]

Re: swinging distributor

If all else fails, this is a good permanent rig that doesn’t look obvious (like zip-ties):

Put a kicker spring (or if you don't have kickers you can use a B190 tensioner spring) inside of the safety link spring. Hook it on the spring hanger tab that Maister mentioned. If it only needs a little help, hook the other end on the back coil of the large spring. If it needs more, take it all the way to the rear hanger stud.

I have 3 or 4 dist that all the adjusting in the world wouldn’t help. They’ve had this extra spring on them for a couple of years now.

[AMFDOCTOR]

Re: swinging distributor

Something that gets over looked is the rod ends on the safety link itself, mainly the one that attaches to the lateral arm. Take it out and check to see if there is any slop in it and my guess is that you'll find some. By adding springs to the safety link, you're just tighting up what could be a sloppy rod end. I've found some that had a lot of side play in them. I've also been thinking about replacing the stock ones with a better quality one. Try to find a exact replacement, good luck. Have made a couple out of regular rod ends with a load factor of 9600lbs.

AMF DOCTOR

The doctor makes house calls

[2424pepsi]

Re: swinging distributor

Dutch is right on on what to do too cut down on the swing from 3 to 2 but one problem has been overlooked. About 80 percent of the time the problem of swinging is caused by a worn inner clutch plate, If your notch where the gear of your distributor meets the metal friction plate has even 1/16th gap--it will cause swinging. I take old plates and weld with 3/32--7014 rod, then file to fit as tight as possible--add springs to only the ones you might need too!!! [img]/content/btubb/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif[/img]

[willey]

Re: swinging distributor

Jandlcox, you say the distributor shaft is new and straight, are you refering to the shaft in the distributor or the distributor drive shaft. I have noticed over the years that the problem you describe is usually associated to the distributor shaft being slightly bent from pile ups, this in turn causes the clutch to chugg (not a smooth tension), this I have found to be the main culprit in 90% of your problem. Just hold the clutch back slightly and if you feel tugging than this is your reason for the problem. To correct it without changing the shaft than zip tie on about 4-5 coils of the outer spring will do.
willey.