What could go wrong that caused this?

[JMcTurnan]

So I put a new timing chain and gear set on, ran great for the day that it worked. Then I was on the highway, the engine died and the oil light came on. There was no fire, all signs of dizzy problems. So the bug in the distributer isn't working. Had it towed, and looked at the dizzy gears, About 8 of the 20 pin things are busted off. What will cause that, most likely something with that cam gear right?

[fordman]

did you replace the gears at the same tiem when you replaced the chain. if not that is why it broke the teeth off. the new chain was too tight for the old gear and it stripped it. was it a fiber teethed gear? if you did replace the gears then the gear could have just been bad or maybe to much torque from a marine enigne.

[BigEd]

Sorry, that is a bogus reply, new chain and old gears will not cause that and none of the rest of the stuff about torque is true either. There are several possibilities about what caused it but the most common is cam end play from improperly matched parts. Also crud dropped into the pan can lock up the oil pump which will also do the same thing although that usually shears the pin and winds up the shaft not breaks gear teeth. Depending on what engine it is Ford had several different combo's for cam gears and retainers, for example older engines had a C ring behind the cam gear and many replacement gears have it built in to the gear. If you leave the old C ring in with a new gear it will shear the teeth off easily. Ed

[fordman]

if he had an old fibered gear and didnt replace it it coul dhave given way. those fibered gears were not very good for lasting very long. and shoul dnever be reused. if it was a steel gear then i said it coul dhave been. i didnt say it was a fact. so i do not see any thing bogus in my reply. yes cma and or crank movement back and forth could also have caused it too. you are right. he is workign with a 351 boat engine put into his truck. if i remember right. so that has to be taken into account. its a old used enigne in hte wrong application. but he made it work. but who knows the quality of how everything was done. so with the whole picture of all of that i took the most logical guess at it. but hey i could be wrong but i am not bogus. thanks for your reply though.

[JMcTurnan]

I did not change the dizzy gear, also we had trouble getting it down in there after we put new timing chain on. So maybe it already had teeth off. It was not originally on this truck either, my cousin brought it to me when we switched to electronic ignition. So it was probably wore to another engine. The oil pump is brand new, I don't think it could be that. The chain was tight, so maybe your right fordman. Were going to check out all scenarios though. Thanks for the help.

[fordman]

so our saying the timing gear teeth is what was ate up and not the timing gear teeth? oh man i misread that. so what would cause that? well a oil pump coul dlock up. and stop the dist from turning. since the cam wanted to keep goign it ate the brass teeth off of the gear. the pump shaft could also twist in a similar situtation but i guess its ok since you didnt mention it. thos egears come off by driving out a roll pin through the dist shaft and gear. then you pull the gear off put the new gear on and put in a new roll pin. see if you can turn the oil pump before you put the dist back in. new stuff can fail too.

[JMcTurnan]

The distributor gear was ate up, the one on the bottom of the distributor.

[JMcTurnan]

"Deleted"

[fordman]

it coul dbe i was just telling of what i had heard of happening before. check it out when you have time.

[JMcTurnan]

Ok I actually read what everyone else said, It is the dizzy gear and not the chain gears. The c ring is what exactly?

[JMcTurnan]

it coul dbe i was just telling of what i had heard of happening before. check it out when you have time.

Ill check it out after work tomorow, hopefully it nothing big. So you just think checking the cam gear and putting a new distributor in I might fall into the same problem again?

[fordman]

from what i read that c ring is behind the cam gear on the older engines. i am not much of a 351 person. but on a fe engine the cam has a thrust retainer plate that goes on after the cam goes in. well thats what i call it anyway. i am unsure abotu a c ring. i think i know but i am unsure without lookign at a book to be 100% about it.

[JMcTurnan]

If someone could, help me through this thrust plate c ring more, and explain it. Just so I can get a good idea what I'm looking for.

[fordman]

heres a picture of the fe enignes and the spacer they use behind the cam gear. i couldnt find anything abotu the 351 on the site. my chiltons book doesnt show any spacer there but that doesnt mean anything. if you put that spacer back in or wahtever yuo have then your fine. so of the double roller timing sets dont use that spacer it is made onto the gear. http://www.fordification.com/images/sch ... /camFE.jpg

[BigEd]

In that picture part number 6265 is the C ring and they used them on small blocks as well. Modern replacement cam gears have them built in so you have to remove the original C ring when you change the gear. Ford Marine engines do come with a cast iron cam gear with a C spacer and you have to remove the spacer if you put a replacement gear on. Read about it and see pictures here: http://books.google.com/books?id=VU1_G7 ... &resnum=1# and here on the bottom of page three: http://www.compcams.com/Technical/Instr ... es/179.pdf. The box usually has a piece of paper telling you this which is why it is so important to read the instructions. If you replaced the cam gear and did not look for this that is very possibly your problem. To my earlier post, a marine engine is no different than a street engine except for the reverse rotating ones have a different cam drive and the crank has reverse knurling. There are no differences in torque, and such a difference would not affect the cam gear which is part of why the post was bogus. Marine engines are extremely similar to street engines except they are usually built in such a way that electrolysis will not occur (brass fittings where a street car may have zinc etc...). So your guess was just made up and not logical in any way. It wasn't even a stretch, if it had been I would have given you credit for it but it was so far off it wasn't remotely possible. It was a bogus response. Sorry that is just the way it is. Also, replacing the chain and not the gears can't make it too tight, if anything it would be looser but rarely by much unless you have a nylon gear that has failed and then it would be too loose to use. There is no requirement to replace gears and chain as a set, you only need to replace gears if they show wear (which they usually do if it has enough miles to need a new chain). Also, fiber gears are fine to reuse if they are good shape but Ford has not used them in many decades on V8's, I think you may be confusing them with nylon faced diecast gears. Ed

Fiber gear:


Nylon faced die cast gear: