distributor gear and cam gear stripped...

[j20krawler]

well my j20 wouldent start so we checks everything out and it was all good, but the distributor gear was stripped BAD...


so i asked all over the place and everyone said that it has to be the cam gear so me and my father opened up the ol' AMC nightmare POS...


so we got the cam gear and whatta you know its stripped...and chipped


so my next step is to put the new distributor gear on,and the new cam gear and see if that fixes the problem... if it does start and runs correctly but strips the gear agian! then i will take the whole motor apart and put in the new cam shaft new lifters and redo bolth the cam and distributor gear. also to update the engine and help its probability of starting and running i put in a new badass orbital battery all new sparkplugs and had my distributor rebuilt, iam also installing all new seals and gaskets on the water pump in the oil pump the timimg chian cover and whatnot. but the real point to this thread is to ask you if you have ever had this problem with the gears and i want to know your opinions.

[j20krawler]

wow i dunno the top one is sooooo big...

[mdill]

Pretty common, usually after swapping parts around.

Go do some reading on www.bulltear.com has the streight scoop on the issue.
(there is more than one reason this could be happening)

Mike D.

[bigblack'74]

get a new timing cover and new gear set you will good to go...very common problem...i have done several times now

[82Waggy]

Make sure the oil feed paths through the front cam journal, timing gear,fuel pump eccentric, and dizzy gear are aligned and that none of the pathways are blocked with machining flash.

The dizzy drive gear is the last thing to get fed oil through all of those parts. It is not uncommon that the timing gear or cam feed paths have machining flash blocking them or that the timing gear pathway is not machined in the right place to align with the feed hole from the cam.

[pb]

Also, use a matched set of gears for the cam and dizzy. There can be variation(s) which will cause problems like that.

[letank]

for more infos on that common issue, check the www.bulltear.com/forums

do a search and you will the recommendation about the oiling cast issue

[billyrb]

See here:

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=37427&page=2&highlight=timing+gear

[mdill]

get a new timing cover and new gear set you will good to go...very common problem...i have done several times now

Bad side is that all of the "replacment" parts have had issues.

New parts
New dizy gears that don't mesh with AMC style Cam gears, and visa versa.
New timmng covers machined so the Dizzy hole does not line up properly with the cam (Hence the gears don't mesh right)
New timming chain gears that have blocked oil holes
New cams that don't have the oil hole drilled right ... Oil passage not fully drilled
New cams with incorect bearing journal sizes ..

Check your new parts they maybe trash, or in the worse case trash your rebuilt engine.
The quality control seems to be in the dumper as far as aftermarket parts.

Mike D.

[j20krawler]

why should i have to replace the timing cover???

[mdill]

Only reason to replace the timing cover that I have seen is due to either the oil pump bore worn out or corosion in the water passages. For this I would not consider changing it out due to the issues with new ones creating more problems with the gears than solving them.


Mike D.

[shackwrrr]

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=37427 check that thread out

[J10-401]

Is all this related to a defective run of TC covers from Crown? And the Timing Chain gears that weren't drilled through for proper oiling?

[mdill]

The crown covers (they are the only game as far as I know) have had reccuring issues, going back a long ways, not just one run of parts. (MC at bull tear has the most info)
Gear profiles, oil holes in both cams and cam gears ... have also been issues. Would be nice to drop by and AMC dealer and just pick up some parts that you know will work together, but that day has long past.
Check your stuff before you run it !!

[Junk Yard Genius]

There is a way to directly oil that set of drives on the front of the engine.
I've done it several times, and it solves the problem.

If I remember correctly, Parts Mike had an excellent write up on this.
Cost of making the kit is about $20 and solves the problem forever.