Distributor cross gear button

[Brian Monticello]

Due to excessive housing wear from the cross gear, I drilled a hole through the housing and installed a button. Now there isn't enough room to tighten the coupler down without binding. Was I supposed to machine the inside surface of the housing to the OD of the button so that it sits flush woth the housing surface?

The only thing I can think of doing is removing the bronze button and shaving some material off the surface of the button. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
brian

p.s. the archives were a big help on this

[Patrick H.]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

Brian,

I had the same problem. I then removed the washer that goes between the cross gear and the coupling, and no more binding. As the cross gear tends to get pulled away from the coupling and toward the button, I didn't think it would hurt. So far it has worked.

Patrick

[Brian Monticello]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

Patrick -
Removing the thrust washer improves the situation but doesn't solve the issue in my case. The only other thing I could think of was to install the coupler with loctite w/o screwing it in all the way. ... that's bubba territory though.
Brian

[Timothy B.]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

Brian,

I had the same problem with the thrust washer from high tech innovations on my 63 distributor. While on the phone with the owner of high tech I was told to take the washer out as it is not necessary because the thrust of the gear is inward. My disrtibutor seems fine and I have not experenced any problems with binding of the gear. I hope this helps you, Tim

[William C.]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

Brian, are you certain that the button is seated all the way in the housing? They sometimes require a fair amount of force to seat fully. Removal of a small amount of material from the surface of the button is an option, as the plastic GM buttons were quite a bit thinner, but usually the removal of material is not necessary.

[Joe C.]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

Brian:

I installed a nylon button, and had no problems. Possible that the brass button is thicker. I suppose you could shave it and be OK. Try the nylon, it might be better. One more thing. Are you sure that the button is fully seated in the distributor housing?

Joe

[Wayne M.]

Are those driven gears w/bronze tip longer ? *NM*

[Brian Monticello]

Re: Distributor cross gear button

hey guys.... button was fully seated but too thick. It started out at .053" thick and i took it down to about .036". It fits nicely now w/o the thrust washer. I probably removed thousands of miles worth of use but buttons are cheap and easy to install now that I know the secrets.

Thanks for the wealth of info (got most of it from the archives)

Brian