Distrubitor points won't set correctly

Jeff_G

Member
1948 with front dist. Put new points in dist and although they fit the gap is too wide on the high lobe and won't close all the way off lobe. anyone run into this with new points?
 
(quoted from post at 10:11:48 01/26/23) 1948 with front dist. Put new points in dist and although they fit the gap is too wide on the high lobe and won't close all the way off lobe. anyone run into this with new points?

What ''make'' are the new points?

Some are from ''The Land of Almost Right'' and will exhibit the problem you are having.

(NAPA Echlin or Standard Ignition/Blue Streak are your best bets for quality.)

If a non-OEM breaker plate has been installed that can cause the ''can't adjust'' problem, as well, because of being made improperly.

The other possibility is that something has bent the support for the front bushing, causing the shaft to be off-center.
 
Never heard of exactly this problem, but have heard of many similar issues. There have been lots of posts
about new ignition parts for the front mounts not fitting quite right. Usually it's the opposite problem -
even with the eccentric screw opened up all the way the gap is too tight.

I'm sure you've checked this, but are you sure the eccentric adjustment screw is doing it's thing
correctly? I ran into a similar case where a neighbour's father couldn't get the gap adjusted on a 2N he'd
just bought. I offered to take a look and saw some goofball PO had replaced the eccentric screw: they'd
drilled & tapped the breaker plate to put a regular socket-head cap screw in where the eccentric should
have been.

Another common problem is the tab that holds the fixed point not being bent at perfectly 90 degrees -
usually it's a little less, which closes up the gap more than it should be. This causes some of people
grief when they go to tighten the points down after adjusting and find that the gap changes slightly when
they tighten.
 
Do the point do that on all 4 lobes or just one or 2?? If they do it on all lobes good chance you have point made in the land of almost right so you need to buy a good brand of points.
 
I have had to use a small rat tail file in the screw slot to allow setting the gap. most points you get today are junk. I have had good luck with Blue Streak, others say Napa points are good. I have also found that the arm sometimes need to be tweaked to get good contact. I don't buy sets anymore, just points alone and rarely change the condenser. I have 2 8ns and use them often and haven't replaced points in 3 yrs. There has been a lot of discussion here about the problem over the years.
 
(quoted from post at 13:51:26 01/26/23) I have had to use a small rat tail file in the screw slot to allow setting the gap. most points you get today are junk. I have had good luck with Blue Streak, others say Napa points are good. I have also found that the arm sometimes need to be tweaked to get good contact. I don't buy sets anymore, just points alone and rarely change the condenser. I have 2 8ns and use them often and haven't replaced points in 3 yrs. There has been a lot of discussion here about the problem over the years.

Agree. Chain saw file works also.
 
HiYa Jeff-
Yes, most cheap, cloned Cheena made points are junk nowadays; can't be gapped correctly when mounted. The best ones still made are the STANDARD IGNITION/BLUE STREAK
ONES, p/n FD-6769X. These still use the OEM style phenolic rubbing block. The ECHLIN brand, p/n CS-35, also uses the phenolic rubbing block and USED TO be one of the
reliable sets to use, BUT no longer as they moved production to Cheena in 2018. The part numbers are the same for NAPA. I avoid ECHLIN now. In 2019 my late good
friend Farmer Dan Howe and I spent a week testing various points and rebuilding front mounts. That is when we found newly purchased ECHLIN sets from different
suppliers were bad. We started a list of serial numbers but realized it didn't matter. You MAY get lucky at NAPA and find a set that has been setting on their shelf
for a few years and are still good, but why bother, why waste your time trying to gap and time? Just get the Blue Streak brand ot one of these others. Dan and I also
tested the CNH brand, p/n 87744524, Made In USA, and the TISCO brand, p/n ATK6FF. Both use the plastic rubbing block and were gapped and timed with no problems. I
like the reliable TISCO kit because it includes the Rotor and Condenser as well as handy, reusable .015 Feeler Gage to set the point gap with. Save it. The last set
of TISCO points I use lasted over 6 years. I also rarely install a new condenser if I use points that doesn't include one. Much has been discussed about bad
condensers, and some do fail granted, but usually not right out of the box, so I do find it highly unlikely - it takes years to eventually fail. They used to make
Capacitor & Condenser Testing Equipment you could buy -anyone remember HEATHKIT? Usually when a fella says he 'fixed' his front mount problem simply by replacing the
condenser I get skeptical. Chances are he bumped a wire or made another connection inadvertently. One issue is the square can coil pigtail electrical connection. If
the pigtail gets skewed off center and it doesn't make contact with the brass screw and copper strip, the circuit can't be completed. The biggest feature most
misunderstood on the front mount is getting the unit mounted correctly on the engine. The Cam & Weights have an offset male tang and the engine camshaft face has an
offset female slot on it and both must mate up exactly. If you force the unit down 180 degrees off, you will bust the aluminum base the second power is applied and
render it junk. You can pull the guts and reinstall them in a good base then. The 8N Operator's Manuals has a sentence about this. Getting the distributor rebuilt,
tested, and mounted correctly is only half of the electrical system. The entire wiring system must also be correct regardless if using 6V or 12V. The 9N &b 2N are
wired differently but the distributor is the same. The FORD 9N-12250 Ballast Resistor is only used with the front mount distributor and MUST be in the circuit using
both 6V and 12V setups. I know you know all of this Jeff but just tossing this info out there for others who may find it useful.

FORD FRONT MOUNT DISTRIBUTOR, CHAPTER VI - ELECTRICAL, from 1947 8N OPERATOR'S MANUAL:
8N 48-50
vAmRXZcl.jpg

zqvaF03l.jpg
*NOTE subtitle 'd', installation.

FRONT MOUNT DISTRIBUTOR - CORRECT METHOD FOR SETTING THE TIMING:
hgWewW9l.jpg

CAM & WEIGHTS W/CAMSHAFT FACE:
YNEUbubl.jpg

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN UNIT MOUNTED 180 DEG OFF:
eQMN65Fl.jpg


FRONT MOUNT EXPLODED PARTS VIEW & WIRING DIAGRAMS:
ejigeiil.jpg

xu7sMo3l.jpg

rxNF128l.jpg

OcIturkl.jpg


TISCO KIT:
NUyDRIIl.jpg

gVQ1ikLl.jpg

FORD 8N TRACTOR 6V WIRNG PICTOGRAMS, by JMOR:
TBC19a5l.jpg


noSTej6l.jpg

PIGTAIL ON COIL MISALIGNED:
o65Bxsxl.jpg


DISTRIBUTOR GASKET KIT, B4 1949:
qUAe0ujl.jpg
oey2vPEl.jpg
NOTE: The 12276 Dust Cover was not introduced until 1949.


Tim Daley(MI)
 
Thanks all, I really appreciate all the posts. I usually only get parts from a tractor supply house. the points I received were a no name. They just weren't made correctly so what I did was carefully file the rubbing block, now it fits. However even the cotter pin they sent with the points is too big for the hole in the pin. When I pulled the dist off the motor first thing I did was mark the housing and the cam for position. When I put the dist back on it went on like new. Except the new gaskets weren't exactly right!
Then I found an aftermarket carb on it. Ordered a gasket kit and the bowl gasket is wrong, too big. So I went into my inventory and found another, small bowl, but it too was wrong. So went over to Tractor Supply and pulled a kit off the shelf, it too was like the one I already had. So not being able to id the carb I will have to cut an new gasket. no big deal, just hate doing it.
This tractor belongs to a friend, he supplied new plug wires, guess what? Wrong ones. Can't win for losing.
BTW ended up ordering new points from NAPA, wrong one. Ordered new Dist cap from NAPA, went to town today to get it and they apologized that the warehouse sent the wrong one, I said let me see, it was the correct cap, so was able to finish the dist.
Once again thanks for all the help.
 
(quoted from post at 17:12:32 01/27/23) Thanks all, I really appreciate all the posts. I usually only get parts from a tractor supply house. the points I received were a no name. They just weren't made correctly so what I did was carefully file the rubbing block, now it fits. However even the cotter pin they sent with the points is too big for the hole in the pin. When I pulled the dist off the motor first thing I did was mark the housing and the cam for position. When I put the dist back on it went on like new. Except the new gaskets weren't exactly right!
Then I found an aftermarket carb on it. Ordered a gasket kit and the bowl gasket is wrong, too big. So I went into my inventory and found another, small bowl, but it too was wrong. So went over to Tractor Supply and pulled a kit off the shelf, it too was like the one I already had. So not being able to id the carb I will have to cut an new gasket. no big deal, just hate doing it.
This tractor belongs to a friend, he supplied new plug wires, guess what? Wrong ones. Can't win for losing.
BTW ended up ordering new points from NAPA, wrong one. Ordered new Dist cap from NAPA, went to town today to get it and they apologized that the warehouse sent the wrong one, I said let me see, it was the correct cap, so was able to finish the dist.
Once again thanks for all the help.
too have run into that kind of adjustment problem in the past & solved it with a rat-tail file in the screw holes.
 

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