Distributor gear wear

I am in the middle of a major engine update.

One thing I came across was a worn distributor gear on a remanufactured duraspark distributor.

Any owner might want to check their gear before the camshaft gear is worn like mine. This forces me to replace the camshaft a clay smith 264.

Just a warning to prevent you with the same bad news.

This may be a good time to replace your duraspark with a DUI from Mike @ FSPP.

If not you had better replace your distributor gear real soon or at least inspect it. Advance auto carries the sorensen brand, you need the DG-14.

Before your camshaft gear is destroyed like mine at least check your distributor gear.

By the way you need a press to replace the gear on your duraspark & you better know what you are doing, this is no job for someone without a press & the necessary tools to make the swap.

In the automotive field, this could be considered a recall or at least a TSB-technical service bulletin.

Be on the safe side & check your gear. William

William......How many miles do you have on your dizzy gear?

In my years of automotive machine work I have seen premature wear on dist. gears. I will never run a HV oil pump and I always try to use breakin lube on the gears just like on the lobes.

William, have you taken any pictures yet?

were there broken teeth, or just worn, sharp edges, pitting of the cast iron...?

Bill, If you look closely at the oil gallery that feeds the lifters, you should see a small passage that feeds the distributor gear. If that becomes clogged, you'll only get splash lubrication on the gear and it may not be enough to prevent excess wear.

Jack, thanks for the tip on the oil to the camshaft-distributor gear area. The oil hole from the lifter galley is wide open, right above the camshaft gear, is there another?

Simon, the wear is scoring-scuffing only on 4 teeth of the distributor gear, which slightly spread to the camshaft gear, I feel a couple of the teeth on the distributor gear had improper hardness??



When you get these remanufactured distributors the gear does not have the smooth parkerized finish & coating of a new gear, they look like the gear is glass beaded to save them the cost of replacement if slight scoring is present & it removes the parkerized process on the gear to prevent scuffing.

Michael, the gear has about 4000 mile in my engine.

Gary I always lube the camshaft & distributor gears with the same moly lube I put on a new camshaft before breakin. The pump is stock I did not shim the pressure relief spring.

I hope that answers all of the above, thanks guys.

salt bath nitriding goes a long way, additional teflon coating an even longer one.

thanks for sharing William, being showed the weakness is being showed the truth, and that leads to strenght. Every failure bears the opportunity to make it better.
I have seen the glassbeaded surfaces on "rebuilt" parts over here, too. I have come to the conclusion to rebuild everything myself rather than relying on the "skills" of some backyard mechanics in Tijuana.
Your dizzy gear shows just what I have feared. Don´t trust any "rebuilt" parts from auto parts stores, never.

Simon, the wear is scoring-scuffing only on 4 teeth of the distributor gear, which slightly spread to the camshaft gear, I feel a couple of the teeth on the distributor gear had improper hardness??

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I would be tempted to check runout on the shaft and gear. It's probably OK but I like to make sure I cover all the bases so I don't get bit twice.

Thanks for sharing with everybody.

I reckon the helix is mismatched to the driven gear. Aftermarket cam blank...

Adam, I feel the 4 teeth on the gear are the reason for failure, if it were the cam all the distributor gear teeth would be affected.

The bottom line is the gear has been replaced, next is the camshaft.

The camshaft in the engine is a clay smith 264. Clay smith makes a quality product.

I hope more of the members inspect there gears to be on the safe side.

If you can catch the wear in the beginning, the camshaft could have been saved,again providing its the bad distributor gear. Wiliam