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Re: [T3] Distributor drive shaft


On 10 Jun 2003 at 18:15, Darvin Gomez wrote:

> The question is, is resetting the drive shaft something that I can do 
> without the engine out of the car?  Is it hard to do?  Another thing, I got 
> the engine rebuilt almost a year ago and the warranty is out at the end of 
> this month.  Do you think I should see if they guy who did the engine would 
> reinstall it correctly?

A lot depends on how much mechanical experience you have and what kind of tools 
you have. Yes, it can be done and I've done several without incident, but it 
always helps a lot to know what all the parts inside look like even when you 
can't see them at the moment.

The problem is that there are 2 steel flat washers between the bottom of the 
drive gear and the case. If these stay down on the case while you pull the gear 
up then everything will be fine. But if one of them sticks to the bottom of the 
gear, then it will pull up a bit and then hit the gear on the crank, which will 
knock it loose. Once it falls you're completely out of luck. I don't think 
there is any way to get them out of the bottom of the cam gear area without 
taking the whole engine apart. Maybe if you have it on an engine stand and turn 
the engine upside down you can shake it loose and get it to come out the 
breather hole, but even this will not be straightforward.

I wonder if Russ has ever found a way to do this that always works. I've 
wondered if a small magnet on a string would work, but I'm pessimistic.

To do this job I use a big snap ring plier which I got at Sears years ago. With 
that you can just reach down and expand in the drive gear slot and pull it up 
and out, rotating slightly as you go. It NEVER goes simply and easily, but I've 
always managed to get it out in about 5-10 minutes.

When reinstalling the gear you need to align the washers first. Do this with a 
rod which you reach down the hole and stick THRU the washers AND the hole in 
the case. Then just gently move the rod around until the holes in the washers 
are aligned with the hole in the case.

One more note: The angle of the drive gear slot on my engines NEVER looks 
exactly like the diagrams in the manuals, but it is pretty close and moving 1 
tooth in either direction is always much worse.

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711-3054
USA

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