TR2/3/3A Distibutor drive dog pin removal?

[karls59tr]

I have to remove the drive dog from a parts distributor to install it on a different one. I tried driving the pin out with a punch but it seems I mushroomed the pin and didn't budge it. Am I further ahead to drill the pin out? Whats the best way to remove that pin?

 

[TR3driver]

The pin is tapered, did you drive it from the small end? If so, then drilling is the next step.

 

[sp53]

A machine shop can press it out in second. They will probably do it for nothing if you have a shop around that sells parts and still does machine work. Those shops are getting rare. I think there is only one left in my area and that is a Napa. They are a big corporation that usually keeps one local machine shop open plus they still have early TR stuff in their data base.

 

[CJD]

It seems most of those taper pins were installed and then ground smooth at Standard Triumph. I frequently have to really study parts, like that distributor dog, to see where the ends of the pins are. It is often very difficult to tell which side is the smaller side to tap on. Whenever I tap and nothing happens, I know I got the wrong side.

 

[sp53]

Yeh John I do it the same way. I usually place the piece on a chunk of wood on a cement floor and let the opposing end/pin be driven into the wood at first. That way all the vibration and bounce is gone. Most times when something is struck with a hammer the vibration removes the force of the impact, so you need to remove the vibration. The pin you are working on is usually stuck pretty well, so it will take some force to move it. I use a short handled 4 pound hammer on the floor into a piece of fur or hemlock or some other softer, but strong wood. If you are hitting it on a table or work bench or even a vise you will lose a lot of impact force.

 

[Tybalt]

And do make sure that the distributor is supported in such a way that so absolutely no load goes into the major section of the distributor body where the action plate is located, it should be hanging in free space. The material body material is both thin and brittle. Side loads on that major section due to it not being in free space is a good way to wind up with a broken distributor.

 

[TR3driver]

I agree about supporting the dog directly; but I don't go quite so far as having the housing hanging in space or working on the floor. Just set up a socket on the bench, so the socket is supporting the dog and the pin can go through the center. I also use a modified "stubborn pin" punch initially, with no shank. The tip is just slightly smaller than the hole through the dog, and it immediately tapers out to match the body of the punch. Easy to make, just grind down the one that broke last time
Once the pin starts to move, you can switch to using an ordinary pin punch, with less chance of breaking it.

Using wood will absorb some of the shock, but that shock is what helps get the pin moving.

 

[CJD]

I forgot about that...you guys are right. When I did my mass distributor rebuilds last year, several of the shafts were bent from some PO trying to drive the pin out with no support behind the dog. A big hammer with no support will bend the flimsy shaft. Important safety tip!?!

 

[Tybalt]

I wasn't really talking about the distributor shaft, the drive dog or the reduced/minor diameter of the distributor body where the bushings reside, proper support there should be a given. I was talking about the large/major diameter section of the distributor body. Those things are fragile and it doesn't take that much of a side load on the large/major diameter section of the body where the action plate resides to break the body. That's why I said that the large/major diameter should be in free space. Now that free space could be just off the working surface, whatever that happens to be, or be measured in feet off the floor, it doesn't really matter as long as it is there and precludes loads on that large/major diameter section.