Any tips on driving out the roll pin holding the dist. gear on? Trying to remove the gear and switch it out (worn) for my 292 rebuild and am having a heck of a time!
Most of those pins are peened over somewhat, making the ends of the pin bigger than the part that goes through the gear and shaft. Grind the ends flush with the gear, and support the gear on a V block while using a starter punch to get the pin moving. Then drive it on through with a proper sized pin punch. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Grind off the head of the pin. Drive the pin out. Don’t use a pointed punch. It will expand the pin and you won’t get it out. If you are having trouble getting the pin out, and that does happen occasionally, grind off the other side of the pin and see if it will drive out in that direction.
the NOS pins I have are not tapered but keep in mind that these style solid pins were essentially peened on with a dedicated piece of equipment. As HRL noted above, if there was any variation in the hole for the pin in the distributor gear, the peening process would hvae filled that in, or in other words, a little bulge that would make getting the pin out in that direction pretty hard if not impossible with out breaking the gear. So if you use the other side that was not peened, you might get it out in that direction.
That being said, I have never been able to use an original style solid pin when installing a new gear. I cant get the pin to peen down snug enough by hand so I have always used hardened delco remy roll pins or after market pins made specifically for distributpr gears.
After installing thousands of rivets as an aircraft assembly line worker back in the 1960's, I've always used an air rivet gun and a semi-circle shaped bucking bar to install those pins. I'm a little spooked by a glass-hard hollow roll pin carrying the driving load of an oil pump. "Different strokes for different folks!" Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I wouldn't worry about using roll pins. I doubt they'd break. I've also seen multi-layer pins (rolled up like a rug) as opposed to the springy C-shaped ones, but have never found a source for new ones of those. The main issue is, you don't want the pin working its way out of the hole. But do what you're comfortable with, and what works.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
The roll pins are fine to use. In fact, if you look up the part number for a stock delco pin for say a 235 chevy, you don’t get a solid pin, you get a roll pin. The vertex magneto on one of my 261 motors uses a roll pin. On the other hand, you can actually safety wire the roll pin on a 235/261 distributor.
MSD sells the heavy duty coiled roll pins, but they're pricey. Cheap insurance, however, if you don't want to go to the trouble of peening a solid pin properly.
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Hmm. I wasn't really looking for them. But after a quick web search, how does a lifetime supply of 50 for $21 sound? Roll Pins
Last edited by klhansen; 05/09/20204:54 AM.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
