I've been trying to educate myself today on distributor stuff. Fortunately, up to now, I've been able to avoid any problems past the guts in the housing. I've had the shop manual out trying to figure out what I'm in for and find exactly what I'm suppose to look for aside from the dist. shaft gear. I've been putting off changing all the oil gaskets on this truck for over a year, so I guess it's time to pull the oil pan and check things out. I'm not sure if I've even had it off of this truck. I've got a new oil pump just in case the old one went out, but even just to peek in there spooks me because I've always managed to have a leaking front or rear seal when I finished on other trucks. I guess it's time to bite the bullet and just do it. I read one post on here where somebody got lucky and just had the gear teeth on the dist. shaft broken off. Getting into pulling cranks for gear replacement is, so far, beyond my knowledge level. Sounds like something I could screw up.
But it's my truck and I'm it's mechanic so it has to be done.
One thing about this is I've found on other posts that there is a difference in some gears (fiber vs metal) that means I need to know what exactly I've got before I order parts.

Glenn- That will be my first step, right after I pull the distributor to check the gear and see what I can see on the contact gear.
Craig-exactly what I thought first thing. Did it jump time or is the coil going bad? We'll find out tomorrow,
Carl- That would be nice. But since it's been in there since I bought the truck 7 years ago, I'm thinking I won't be that lucky. But I hope it didn't tear up the gear the dist gear meshes with. I'm one of those "need to see it or a picture of it" guys, and the best I've found so far is a cross section illustration in the shop manual, and I'm having a hard time visualizing what I'm getting ready to look for.

Thanks again for the help, men. I've always looked at problems like this as learning tools. Still too proud to not be embarrassed to ask about something that I figure everyone else on this forum has known for decades. I really want to figure it out and get it done, but I still feel silly having to ask. Thank you all.

"When I rest, I rust"
1951 3100 5 window w/ '56 235