crankshaft spacer

1945 - 196*, Willys CJ series, questions, discussions, regarding anything related to the post war jeep.®
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old arkie
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crankshaft spacer

Post by old arkie » Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:55 am

the spacer to be very tight or a bit loose on the cj crankshaft this is the one in the front of the gear or sprocket?????


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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by Wolfman » Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:20 am

Guess I will have to help out, Arkie.
The spacer should not be loose, like falls into place but you should not have press it onto the crank either. Definitely do not want it flopping around on the crankshaft.
With the crankshaft cleaned, it should slide on with some effort. Maybe tap it into place with a hammer.
Once everything on the crankshaft nose is in place and tightened up, it will be secure.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by old arkie » Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:19 am

well I believe your right BUT I bought one from ajp It appeared to be NOS and had a red coating on it for rust protection and is a bit loose. The oil slinger does not against it so there is no way I can make it tight. The slinger is a bit farther forward and it too is loose. -I am not thinking about replacing the crandshaft as too costly. I believe when I install the pulley it will go against the oil slinger but not to the spacer. I think I shall have to live with it. Thanks for your response old arkie

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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by Wolfman » Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:12 am

Any sign of wear on the crankshaft ???
Should be smooth from the front crank journal to the threads.
Once all the pieces are in place, shims, thrust washer, gear, spacer, oil slinger and pulley, and the nut installed and tightened, all these pieces should be clamped tightly in place.
The gear should be a tight fit on the crank. The rest may be a little looser. ( is that a word ? :lol: ) But not flopping around.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by OldPappy » Wed Feb 02, 2022 8:44 am

The wording "in front of" confuses me a little, but I assume you are talking about the thrust washer the gear or sprocket goes up against.

As Wolfman says it should slide onto the crankshaft, not too loose nor too tight.

No mention was made on setting the end play of the crankshaft which is what this washer and the shims in front of it are for. I assume you know this and have, or will check that to be within spec.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by old arkie » Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:50 am

The spacer slides on easily. as does the oil slinger. But i suspect it will all tighten up after the pulley in on the shaft. the spacer has a cut out on one side which appears is for the gasket that goes. But I understand that the gaskets were eliminated some time back and RJP has none of them.
I have a question about the engine I am rebuilding as to its use. The fuel pump is very close to the front plate which indicates that it is a early engine but there are no number stamped on the block boss or on top of the block above the water pump. There is stamped there the following U3000,so I assume that the engine was not installed in a vehicle and might have been for some other machinery ap. It is a l134 for sure and an early one. Does the u3000 mean WHAT ?? Info much appreciated. thanks old arkie

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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by dpcd67 » Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:32 pm

U Utility vehicle
T Truck engine
R Replacement engine
J CJ2A Jeep engine
3J CJ3A engine
I think there might be one for Generators and Welders but I forget.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by old arkie » Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:53 am

thank you sir for that answer. It seems that having this engine using the gear creates a problem for the distributor. none came with the other parts and as it will cause the dizzy to run clockwise instead of ccw. This in turn will cause the dizzy to run cw will dizzy that run ccw as mine does will the dizzy have to be replace with another one or can it run in the reverse direction??? another question arises Will it never end?????? thanks old arkie

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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by W. Winget » Sun Feb 06, 2022 7:23 am

Gears on the cam shaft and Distributor are different between the Chain Drive and Gear driven timing sets/cam shafts. You will have to replace one or the other to match any revision to the engine.
If it were just a matter of the direction of the distributor, you would merely reverse the order of wires for the firing sequence.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by Bruce W » Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:53 am

W. Winget wrote:
Sun Feb 06, 2022 7:23 am
Gears on the cam shaft and Distributor are different between the Chain Drive and Gear driven timing sets/cam shafts. You will have to replace one or the other to match any revision to the engine.
If it were just a matter of the direction of the distributor, you would merely reverse the order of wires for the firing sequence.
V/R W Winget
The distributor has no gear. It is driven by the oil pump. The pump drive gear and the camshaft gear are cut in the opposite direction, comparing chain-drive camshafts to gear-drive. So the oil pump rotates in the same direction regardless, and so does the distributor, counter-clockwise as viewed from the top. Chain-drive and gear-drive engines use the same oil pump except for the gear, and the same distributors.
If you were to run any distributor in reverse, the centrifugal advance mechanizm would become a retard mechanizm if it worked at all.
BW
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by W. Winget » Mon Feb 07, 2022 5:00 pm

Thank You for the clarification, Bruce, I meant to quickly point out (too quickly :wink: ) the bottom line was the parts are not (easily) interchangeable from one design to the other.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by old arkie » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:03 am

I guess that I will need to purchase a dizzy that runs clock-wise. I assume they must be available???? I have another question about the gasket that use to be installed on the spacer. I have not been able to find one and somtime back on the forum it indicated that the gasket was no longer required. I installed the gear,the spacer(sans a gasket, oil slinger,and pulley. this did not tighten the spacer. The gear was very tight to install so I feel that the crank has not been worn down causing the spacer to be loose. So need to decide if I should leave the loose spacer or omit it????

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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by Bruce W » Sun Feb 13, 2022 4:31 pm

No, a clockwise-running distributor is not available, not do you need one. All Willys-Overland and Ford GPW L- and F-head engines have a distributor that runs counter-clockwise as viewed from the top.
The spacer must be tight. Everything from the front main journal forward - thrust shims, thrust washer, timing gear, spacer, slinger, and pulley must be tight when the crankshaft nut is tightened. If you were to omit the spacer, I dont think the gear would stay where it belongs, and crankshaft thrust clearance would go out of sight. Someting is stopping the pulley or the nut from going on as far as they should.
Or…. Do you have the correct crankshaft thrust washer and shims in place behind the timing gear?
BW
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by OldPappy » Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:56 am

I misunderstood the issue in my previous response, but now see you are not talking about the thrust washer. I am going to go out to the barn and look at a crankshaft I pulled last week and removed everything in prep for the machine shop. I am wondering what would happen if the thrust washer was omitted during assembly.

If the proper thrust washer and shims are in place the only other cause I can think of is interference between the inside bore of the gear or pulley with the crankshaft. Which would cause me to look closely at the inside bore for the gear or pulley, and at the shaft to see if either has any burrs, or other problem. Seems I bought an aftermarket pulley once that I had to hone the inside a little to get it to fit.

Not sure how the topic of distributor rotation fits in, but Bruce is right. Because the gears are cut opposite the rotation of the distributor is the same whether chain drive or gear drive cam.

The only thing that rotates in a different direction between the two designs is the camshaft. On a chain drive the camshaft rotation is the same as the crankshaft, or a gear drive the camshaft rotation is opposite of the crankshaft. This is why the cam gear, and oil pump drive gear have to be cut opposite between the two designs.
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Re: crankshaft spacer

Post by OldPappy » Thu Feb 17, 2022 11:18 am

I just got back from the barn and think Bruce was on to something when he asked if the thrust washer and shims were installed.

If omitted there is nothing to keep the timing gear from going too far onto the shaft and that certainly would make everything in front loose.

IF (big IF since I am just guessing) the thrust washer and shims were not installed you will need to study the manual about setting proper end play of the crankshaft which can be checked with a feeler gauge, and is adjusted to spec by adding (too tight) or removing (too loose) shims.
A.C.Fults
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