1976 distributor breaker point plate (1 Viewer)

[Roadnoiz40]

Anyone have one of these in good condition? The breaker plate has small ball bearings for rotation with the vacuum advance/retard unit. Mine has been cleaned in an ultra sonic tank and rotates, but has some "ratchety" rotation.
Is this normal?
Regards;
Desert FJ40 in need of a part.

 

[DougAustinTx]

To be honest, I didn't remember that the dizzy had bearings in it. I remembered that early Hondas had them. In any event, to answer your question, it should not be "ratchety". It should move smoothly without obstruction.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Anyone have one of these in good condition? The breaker plate has small ball bearings for rotation with the vacuum advance/retard unit. Mine has been cleaned in an ultra sonic tank and rotates, but has some "ratchety" rotation.
Is this normal?
Regards;
Desert FJ40 in need of a part.View attachment 2286470

Contact @4Cruisers

he Speaks NipponDenso as his second language Every day !

 

[Roadnoiz40]

Talked with John, he had some for other 6 cylinder Toyotas, but not the FJ40. I dismantled my unit. Removed the bearings. Did some cleaning. There was a piece of small copper wire that came off of the internal distributor grounding strap and was in with the ball bearings, also some small bits of grit. The bearing races had a few dings in them (see red arrows) so I used some 1500 emery paper and green Scotch Brite. The rough edges of the dings were smoothed leading to a smoother rotation of the part when it was re-assembled.

 

[majdomo]

How did you disassemble? Having the same issue with mine - gritty rotation that suggest some junk in the races / bearings.

 

[4Cruisers]

How did you disassemble? Having the same issue with mine - gritty rotation that suggest some junk in the races / bearings.

Per our PMs, new parts coming today. To disassemble, pry off the four small clips - I use a dull X-Acto blade - then the whole thing will separate. You'll be getting 50 of those little ball bearings and the inner and outer races in my refurbishment kit. To reassemble I put the bottom of the clip over the small lip on the bottom of the lower race, then use a small screwdriver to pry the upper part of the clip up and over the small lip on the top of the upper race. For photos of the screwdriver I use stay tuned.

 

[4Cruisers]

Talked with John, he had some for other 6 cylinder Toyotas, but not the FJ40. I dismantled my unit. Removed the bearings. Did some cleaning. There was a piece of small copper wire that came off of the internal distributor grounding strap and was in with the ball bearings, also some small bits of grit. The bearing races had a few dings in them (see red arrows) so I used some 1500 emery paper and green Scotch Brite. The rough edges of the dings were smoothed leading to a smoother rotation of the part when it was re-assembled.

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View attachment 2287864

^^^

Exactly! I've done the same to clean up the races on 9/77 through 8/87 breaker plates. They're different than 1/75 through 9/77 breaker plates, and I ran out of new parts for the later ones a while back. But I have been able to modify the earlier breaker plates to accommodate the later cam and signal generator, so I can use the new parts for those.

 

[majdomo]

Per our PMs, new parts coming today. To disassemble, pry off the four small clips - I use a dull X-Acto blade - then the whole thing will separate. You'll be getting 50 of those little ball bearings and the inner and outer races in my refurbishment kit. To reassemble I put the bottom of the clip over the small lip on the bottom of the lower race, then use a small screwdriver to pry the upper part of the clip up and over the small lip on the top of the upper race. For photos of the screwdriver I use stay tuned.

Amazing, thank you! Special grease needed for the BBs, or standard red will do?

 

[4Cruisers]

Amazing, thank you! Special grease needed for the BBs, or standard red will do?

I use distributor cam lubricant, but I think most any high temperature grease will work for that application.

 

[majdomo]

Fixed! To install in the rig maybe tomorrow. Showing my old bigger race, which has some dimpling from the ball bearings. Inner / plate race was fine, just needed some cleanup and red Scotchbrite to get all the gunk out.