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who makes a good distributor

ehall

ehall

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
Southern Maryland
I read a lot of complaints about Cardone but I can't find a lot of alternatives. Even the store brands are Cardone with a different label. They do make a "new" unit that is not reman, wondering if its any better or if its same crap parts.

Spectra Premium bought out Richporter and they have one, supposed to be okay but I don't have any experience with them. Hard to get still.

Any recommendations?
 
Last edited:
ehall said:
I read a lot of complaints about Cardone but I can't find a lot of alternatives. Even the store brands are Cardone with a different label. They do make a "new" unit that is not reman, wondering if its any better or if its same crap parts.

Spectra Premium bought out Richporter and they have one, supposed to be okay but I don't have any experience with them. Hard to get still.

Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I bought a Rich Porter some time back and the drive gear attachment was out of spec, preventing me from installing the distributor correctly. Returned it and got my money back

I looked at a Cardone rebuild at NAPA. The drive shaft end that engages the oil pump drive was all worn out.

I ended up getting a '98 distributor from the bone yard and cleaning it up and using it in my '99.

With any new or rebuilt distributor here's what to look for in the drive gear attachment. If the the gear is not attached properly it will never install properly.

One pic shows one side of the gear and the other pic shows the opposite side of the same gear.

jpgDSCF2777.jpg


jpgDSCF2778.jpg
 
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I don't understand what you are trying to say! The roll pin may be twisted but the gear is still in the same location as the other side! In other words if the gear is walking you would feel play in the shaft. If you mean you can not get the rotor to line up with the #1 plug, rotate the oil pump with a flat screw driver or reset your plug wires to where they need to be on the cap! The roll pin could have twisted when pressed in due to tight tolerances, but if the gear is not lining up you need to rotate the pump drive (slot)! I just went thru the same situation after replacing a smoked distributor for the second time!Stay away from O'reilley distributors (chinese)! Only good thing is lifetime warranty but that is for a reason! Also the roll pin is design to be the weak point and shear so yo don't dissolve a shaft into a million metal slivers in the engine!
!
 
Boss Cherokee said:
I don't understand what you are trying to say! The roll pin may be twisted but the gear is still in the same location as the other side! In other words if the gear is walking you would feel play in the shaft. If you mean you can not get the rotor to line up with the #1 plug, rotate the oil pump with a flat screw driver or reset your plug wires to where they need to be on the cap! The roll pin could have twisted when pressed in due to tight tolerances, but if the gear is not lining up you need to rotate the pump drive (slot)! I just went thru the same situation after replacing a smoked distributor for the second time!Stay away from O'reilley distributors (chinese)! Only good thing is lifetime warranty but that is for a reason! Also the roll pin is design to be the weak point and shear so yo don't dissolve a shaft into a million metal slivers in the engine!
!
Click to expand...

I'm not referring to installing the distributor, just the drive gear's installation relative to the roll pin. The Rich Porter (Chinese) distributor I bought did not have the splines lined up with the pin properly and it could not be installed.

Here's a pic that shows the relationship of the drive gear splines/roll pin relative to the distributor pinned (as though you were going to install it).

Note the position of the female spline relative to the pin. It is possible to install the drive gear 180 degrees out so that a male spline is lined up as shown,with the distributor pinned. The camshaft helical splines are set to accept the female spline when the timing marks are aligned, not a male spline.

DSCF3187.jpg
 
Looks like the factory worker has installed the drive
gear 180 degrees off...? The roll pin can be driven out
and the gear rotated half a turn on the shaft to get
it back in sync. The Chinese worker didn't know the
difference and most likely had 50% installed wrong
and 50% right on his shift production output...???
 
Runnin'OnEmpty said:
Looks like the factory worker has installed the drive gear 180 degrees off...?

The roll pin can be driven out and the gear rotated half a turn on the shaft to get it back in sync.
Click to expand...
At that rate, just put the parts in a baggie and let me install it right the first time. :mad:

I did learn something new tonight, THANKS!!!
 
fwiw, i bought a new one through crown....almost two years ago. this was for a renix though.
had no problems at all with it, went in fine and is working perfect to this day.
all the remans i looked at just looked like total garbage.
 
Sidewinder CC said:
I bought a Rich Porter some time back and the drive gear attachment was out of spec, preventing me from installing the distributor correctly. Returned it and got my money back

I looked at a Cardone rebuild at NAPA. The drive shaft end that engages the oil pump drive was all worn out.

I ended up getting a '98 distributor from the bone yard and cleaning it up and using it in my '99.

With any new or rebuilt distributor here's what to look for in the drive gear attachment. If the the gear is not attached properly it will never install properly.

One pic shows one side of the gear and the other pic shows the opposite side of the same gear.

jpgDSCF2777.jpg


jpgDSCF2778.jpg
Click to expand...

Some years ago when I had the 1994 XJ, I had to remove the distributor to replace the trigger/sensor under that metal plate that was under the rotor. This means I had to remove the shaft to gain access the parts that needed to be changed. On reassembly I noticed the hole in the shaft for the roll pin that secured the drive gear to the shaft was drilled off center. I think it is made like that for a reason (that is unknown to me). The XJ had almost 200,000 miles when I removed the distributor and ran another 30,000+ miles before it was stolen. IMO, what you see there is normal.
 
My stock distributer started making a lot of noises back in 08 and I replaced it with a Cardone from oreilys for about 60 bucks and haven't had a single issue since with it.
 
I bought a used stocker from ebay and it is in pretty rough condition. The shaft of the cardone is smooth and obviously new manufacture, while the old stocker has a lot of scuffing and chips on the oil pump teeth.

Used_vs_Cardone_distributors.sized.jpg


I replaced the defective pickup coil on the cardone distributor with a new one and it has some drag when I put the gear on (hard to turn the shaft by hand). The jeep started but was bogging. I can't get the roll pin out of the stock distributor apart to swap gears. I might pull the gears from the cardone tomorrow and shave them a bit with the grinding wheel to loosen them up (they are held in place by the roll pin so I should be okay with increasing the tolerance). The gear interference and the cheap pickup coil are the biggest problems with the cardone.
 
Ironically the distributor that I pulled out prior to installing the replacement did not have the fork for the bolt so I was able to install it how I wanted! The new one did so I checked before leaving the store and it was the correct distributor. I still don't get why you are having trouble! I am trying though! So lets say the gear is a 180 off! Instead of tapping the pin out and rotating the gear only to weaken the pin, put it in 180 off ! The rotor does not have to point to the #1 piston in the block it just has to point to the #1 spark plug wire then redo and follow the firing order.
 
The jeep was fixed a couple of days ago (sort of). This thread is about parts quality.

I got the roll pin out of the stock and compared its internals to the Cardone reman. There are a couple of minor differences. The main shaft and the gear are not identical but they are close enough by eyeball. The Cardone bushing sleeve for the shaft is a little larger diameter which makes it hard to install the sensor all the way down. And there is a spacer/bearing on top of the shaft, and the Cardone spacer is also a little tighter which results in more preload on the sensor. Together it makes the shaft really tight on the sensor and produces some rub/drag. Once you swap the shafts with the housings, there is no more rubbing.

To address something earlier, the shafts and gear do seem to have an offset hole, so it should not be possible to put the gear on backwards, or it would seem to require a bit of effort to do it wrong anyway.
 
Well you did a good job identifying the problems so maybe thats why my 1st replacement only lasted about a year and a half. I am really getting tired of this Chinese crap we are getting from U.S. parts companies! Just give me the good part from the start. The problem is even if you buy new from rebuilt they are probably made over there as well!
 
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