Distributor Oil Bearing Seized?

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Nomis

Nomis

Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Threads
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Tampa
I have a relatively new small cap dizzy (less than 5K on it) that was running a little rough recently - pulled it out and the distributor shaft itself was hard to rotate and it had a gritty blackish powder/grit in the bottom of the housing beneath the counterweights and springs - I verified the grit was magnetic which means something was getting chewed up in the base of the dizzy. I verified there are no loose springs, screws,etc floating around. Any ideas?
-Is the orientation of the oil hole on the shaft of the distributor critical so the dizzy shaft gets oil? (not the bottom of the shaft that turns the oil pump - oil pressure is fine)
- Only other thing I can think of is that maybe I tightened the clamp down too tight on the dizzy - i.e. tightened the collar clamp down on the dizzy housing then tightened the clamp to block putting too much pressure on the internal bearing??
- I disassembled the dizzy, oiled it up and it is moving freely now without any significant slop - thinking about throwing it back in with the clamps tightened down properly. What do you think?
 
Nomis said:
- tightened the collar clamp down on the dizzy housing then tightened the clamp to block putting too much pressure on the internal bearing??
Click to expand...

That is a thought...you did it backwards of how I do it. You probably could run it, for a while, but I'd be looking for a spare to carry, just in case, until you get that bearing looked at.
 
That was the old points dizzy's I used to sell. PM me your address and I'll send you the new electronic version for your troubles.

attachment.php
 
I was asked if I ever had a failure with this old model. Out of the 100 or so I sold for $75 each I had one failure I was aware of. I sell two models now and both are electronic. One is for the F and one for the 2f/3f. They can be interchanged but one has and old school look and octane selector. The 2f version has the bigger 1975-77 cap. Neither requires any changes to your current system other than getting rid of your igniter. All you need for this to run is a coil.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/trollholes-cruisers/583790-electronic-f-2f-distributors.html
 
Just had to pull the new dizzy as it is exhibiting the same symptoms as the old one - binding of the shaft and metal dust/shavings in the base of the dizzy below the springs. What has happened is the unit begins to bind and it rotates the housing in the hold down to the point that it throws off the timing - which is good because it alerts me to the problem. I am almost certain it is NOT a manufacturing defect with the dizzy and am very grateful to Trollhole for supplying me with a new unit. That said, I need to sort this out.

Since the metal powder/shavings are inside the dizzy housing there must be something going on internally. I have the vacuum advance line going to the base of the carb which should be correct. Other than that there is not much to these units. I'm at a complete loss at this point as to what could be causing it.

I will disassemble the unit tonight and try to figure out what is wearing exactly. . .
 
Disassembled the dizzy but could only get down as far as the plate below the springs and weights. The plate is pressed in place so I couldn't get under it to take a look. I did clean the area behind the plate and a lot more metallic dust came out. I oiled it a bit and and it is spinning freely. I had a spare dizzy that I am running for the time being and it is running fine for now.

One thing I did realize is that the distributor hold down clamp does not appear to be the original OE Toyota clamp. This may have something to do with it - I will be picking up a new clamp from Toyota just to be sure.
 
Interesting. What was the reason for getting a new dizzy in the first place? Has your motor been rebuilt in the past? Did you send the other Dizzy back? I can't remember.
 
Motor was rebuilt by PO. Not sure which motor/application that clamp would have come off of originally. It's possible the old clamp was holding the distributor slightly off center once tightened, putting pressure on the bearing that wasn't intended. I can send you back the dizzy I took off if you like - it has been cleaned up is spinning freely now if you want it.
 
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