I've just had a distributor shaft seize solid in it's bushing, basically locking the unit and twisting it around untill it's rotation was stopped when the vacuum advance jammed up against the head. Both the cap and rotor were broken, and when I cranked the engine over the distributor shaft did not turn. .Upon further inspection, looks like the shear pin holding the driven gear to the bottom of the shaft was sheared off. Is there any chance that damage could have been done to the gear on the cam, as it appears to be machined into the cam itself and nor a separate piece that could be forced loose. Thanks : Bruce

Bruce I see you have no response and I am not your best source of what you should do. But if it were me I would pull the intake manifold and the valley cover and see if I could lift the distributor gear out of its position on the cam gear. Then I would turn the engine over by hand while checking for broken teeth on the cam gear (with a flash light). If I couldn't get the gear out from the top I would pull the oil pump and see if I could push it out with the oil pump drive shaft from below. If the cam gear has broken teeth then I fear its time for a new cam. Good luck.

Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia

Bruce:

I feel that it is unlikely that the camshaft gear has any damage, since the engine could have only run a few seconds with the distributor going out of time, and the roll pin sheared.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks guys : Here is what happened. The distributor shaft siezed rock solid on the bushing right at the top just under the weight mounting plate. When this occured, the distributor rotated with the siezed shaft about 150 degrees until it came to an abrupt stop when the vacuum advance hit the cylinder head. At this point the roll pin holding the gear on the shaft sheared and of course everything shut down. The gear was still very tight on the shaft even though the pin had sheared ( I did'nt know the pin was sheared at this point) , and when I re-installed the shaft alone into place in the engine and tried to turn it, it did. Something was slipping and I initially assumed it was the cam gear, but discovered later it was just the distributor gear. I installed my spare distributor, re-timed the engine and all is well. Thanks again; Bruce

Whew! That is good news!

Mark

1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia

A disributor bushing seizing like that is I believe rare. Was the distributor a recent rebuilt by chance? Most Y distributors have an oiling point & possibly the bushing was stone dry?

Paul

I,ve never heard of it either, and no one I've talked to since ever heard of this happening. The dist. was well oiled when I put it in, but bone dry when it seized. The shaft has a spiral oil groove cut into it ,obviously to transfer oil within the bushing. Does this bring oil up towards the top, or down from the oil supply at the toplet-seat oiler?? Bruce