IH distributor rotor retainer/spring clip????

I feel like this might be a dumb question on my part,but isnt there supposed to be a spring loaded clip that goes under the rotor on top of the distributor shaft to give the rotor a "press fit" onto the shaft?????? (Super M 264 engine with IH distributor)

If so,I am suddenly missing mine and I might need one or a few of them.

(quoted from post at 14:29:03 12/19/12) I feel like this might be a dumb question on my part,but isnt there supposed to be a spring loaded clip that goes under the rotor on top of the distributor shaft to give the rotor a "press fit" onto the shaft?????? (Super M 264 engine with IH distributor)

If so,I am suddenly missing mine and I might need one or a few of them.

Click to expand...

I know what you're talking about, but I don't recall ever seeing one on an IH distributor, or a Delco.

i don't see anything like that in the parts book and the rotors on my tractors has always seemed loose. I just cut a strip of brass or aluminum to fit between the flat on the rotor and the distributor shaft. It should be thick enough to fit snug, but come off easily.

Greg

Hello
you did not lose it, there never was a clip under the rotor. Hope this helps
Clif

There's no clip to get lost. However rotor fit however does sometimes get a bit sloppy. I tighten them up using a shim cut out of an aluminum beer can.

I apreciate all the answers. I DID NOT think there was supposed to be one,but was not sure????(I have other,older,automotive distributors that DO use a spring loaded clip under them,but they are a different brand)


I think I will be making a shim for mine as well. Mine fits loose and sometime the rotor goes "flying" across the floor when I take the distributor cap off! lol(also has to be a degree of timing changing while it is running also)

When that spark jumps the gap at 186000 miles per second, how is that going to change the timing?

the timing will change cause when the rotor wears on its drive tab timing will be towards the retarded side slightly. every little bit of wear cases timing change, such as lobe wear , point dwell and even timing gear wear etc.

If that rotor is "dancing" at all in there,I gurantee there has to be some kind of timing variation.
Granted,these are a LOW rpm engine and the distributor is not turning NEAR the rpm of an automotive engine.It is probably NOT enough to get worried about on these,but it will effect it.

(WAY egagerating here!!!)If you had one loose enough to get the rotor out of phase,you could be lighting ANOTHER cylinder other than the one that was supposed to be in time.
That would be like a "junk" rotor that is WAY worn out.(And ,yes,I have seen such rotors that have NEVER been changed out in their whole lives!)

As long as the rotor is tight enough to be generally pointed towards the electrode for the proper cylinder, looseness will have absolutely no effect on timing. The timing is determined by rotation of the cam, which is not driven by the rotor. The absolute rotation position of the cam will be affected slightly by wear in the valve train and gear reduction of the battery ignition unit. However, any change due to wear of those parts is compensated for each time the timing is set.

By the way, the spring built into the center contact of the rotor keeps it in place as long as the cap is on. The only time a loose rotor can hop off is when the cap is removed.

I would say all that you have said here Jim Is
GENERALLY good,but I have a few issues with it.But
if we wer going to "nit pick" this statement:

#1 You WILL NOT compensate for loose timing
components by resetting timing!(Cam gears,crank
gears,timing chains,distributor drive
gears,distributor cap that has a bad indexing
tab,even oil pump drives(I bet I will get
questions about that one???rapid rpm changes up
and down will change timing on an engine with
loose components.

#2 Like I originally stated :It would take ALOT of
the rotor to be out of phase to fire out of
time,UNLESS you couple a slightly loose rotor
with an alternate path for the rotor to be
pointing to an alternate grounding point other
than the correct pole in the cap.Examples:Carbon
tracking inside the cap,cracked cap,1 pole in cap
corroded,will jump to NEXT available ground,like
NEXT cylinder in firing order.)
Those are unlikely scenarios that might happen and
also prove only that a cap is bad and being the
issue. But I have even seen rotors from the
factory that are pretty far out of phase. I have
seen them right when the points are breaking to
let the coil discharge that the rotor is BARELY
favoring the correct cylinder to be firing!!

I know on these old tractors we play with that we
can generally get away with murder because of the
lower RPMs and low horsepower/low compression,ect,
(The distributor MIGHT be turning 800 rpm at best
on average??)On a high RPM engine you couldnt.

Generally,I agree with what you said,but the are
situations where it WILL mess with timing.

When that 186000 arc fires the SAME cylinder twice,I would call that a timing issue.

I think the issue is seting the initial timing. Other than that, The distributor is always turning the same way so the rotor is not flopping aroung too much. Sudden changes in RPM will vary the timing a little, but these motors run at pretty consistant speed.

When the timing is spot on, they start and run great.



Greg