Distributor Gears

[Plankhill]

Does anyone have a list of gears that go on the cam for different brands as far as: Diameter, No. of Teeth, Width etc. I am trying to find out which one has 16 teeth and is 1 3/8" dia. but would like to know the size of others also.

[Scott_Conger]

Given that it's a fixed ratio of drive gear to driven gear, and the fact that there existed and still exists standard gear pitch and module values, I'm going to bet that the gears are going to be very similar regardless of mfg.

[Plankhill]

The there is a range of diameters and tooth counts. What I am trying to find out is what brand of the currently available replacements would fit the cam position.

[Mark Gregush]

Maybe it would help to know what distributor you are working with. Given the major diameter of 1-3/8 I am guessing it is one that used the gear with the teeth set at angle (miter) and the vertical shaft in line with the cam shaft. I have a distributor with offset shaft, the major diameter is just under 1-1/2" with 12 teeth for the gear on the cam shaft, the gear on the vertical shaft has a smaller major diameter of just a smige over 1" has 12 teeth also so the ratio is still 1:1. Maybe that is an extreme case but all were 1:1 drive. Good chance if it is the miter type, a gear with same tooth count and diameter would match up. If that is the case you would still have to deal with center hole and spacing. Lang's and other catalogs list what is currently on the market.
Pictures?

[Henry K. Lee]

CCW or CW rotation too.

Hank

[Plankhill]

I have two unmarked front plate distributors. One is missing the cam gear. The what I am looking for is information on the sizes of available replacements such as Bosch, Atwater Kent, and Delco. Does anyone have dimensions on these?

[DanTreace]

Like Mark's post, the available repros are sold by Langs for the more popular old dist. models. You can call them and get the dimensions likely. Can't think there is any source of printed ref. material on actual size of gears, tooth counts, etc. as most of the old info sheets of parts lists only list the gears by item number and description as 'large' or 'small' gear


I have a couple of about NOS small gears,11 tooth and one 18 tooth. If they help you let me know, cheap as don't have any need of these. (shown below with Lang's cat. page)

[Mark Gregush]

First lets make sure we are on the same page. There are two basic groups of after market distributors; front plate that replace the timing cover or clip on that just attach to the Ford timing gear cover ether by bolts or the timer clip.
You say that you have two front plate distributors, unmarked and only one cam gear. Are they both the same or different? Do you have the front plates and distributor body or just the distributor body? I suggest photos if you are trying to id them. If they are just the distributor bodies, they may or may not be for Ford.
Then you go on to ask about Bosch, Atwater Kent and Delco. The Bosch, both front plate and clip on, you can buy new gears. The Atwater-Kent clip on, you can buy both the vertical shaft cast iron bodied and LA gears new. Up until a few years ago Lang's listed the cam gear new for the Delco.
Right now you are asking too broad of a question with way too many variables to give answers to. If you have some gears that you are trying to figure out what they go to, or? We could post that X brand gear is Y, but that is only part of it if you are looking for off the shelf gears. If you look at the photo in Dan's post, some gear sets have two different diameter of gears and as Hank said, depending on the gear placement could be CCW or CW teeth. I think maybe you need to narrow down the question and be more specific.

[Dan McEachern]

Please post a picture of your distributor plates so we can try to determine what you are working with and trying to match up. Be aware that several of the clip on style distributors do not have the distributor shaft at a right angle to the cam centerline.

[Plankhill]

Here is what they look like.

[Mark Gregush]

It looks to be a Thomas.
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/11 ... 1263778450
At some point the area by the oil fill hole was built up so it could be used on early pre starter engine. If you need a second cam gear might have to have it made at least you would have a sample to start with. I don't know it the cam gear is the same for the clip/bolt on type but if it is could be a market for them.
google "mtfca; Thomas"