Well I just had to pull my distributor to remove a broken bolt, so I thought we could use a DIY on doing this. Jason, could you move this to the DIY section?

I have to give credit to cmckenna, VWandDodge, aim4squirrels, and HeyYou for their invaluable knowledge and for helping me out with this little job. This was my first time pulling a distributor and if you're reading this, chances are it's your first time too I tried to make this diy as straighforward as possible, to limit the chance of somone messing up their truck


Tools Required:

Flat screwdriver
1/4" drive ratchet, 3" extension, and 7MM socket (7MM wrench might be neccessary)
1/2" stubby wrench
Black Marker
flashlight or other light source
Mirror (makes it possible to see what you're doing back there)
plywood to lay on
Beer (# required may vary)

Parts: Carquest brass terminal cap (CQ part #51-1553), and matching rotor (CQ #51-5623)

Time to complete: less than an hour with no problems


Removal:

Step 1: Remove airbox assembly. I won't go into this as it's pretty straightforward to get it off there. Once that's out of the way, lay your plywood down. I laid it on the rad support, and it rested on a bracket for the A/C lines and the battery hold down. Just keep in mind where your throttle cables are, don't pinch them accidentally. You don't NEED the plywood, but trust me it made this job a helluva lot more easy.



Step 2: Trace all your plug wires and mark the corresponding cylinder number on each end of the wire. I also marked a 'C' on the coil wire just to avoid any confusion later on. I used a black sharpie to mark the # on each boot, but others have suggested masking tape etc. Whatever works for you. This pic shows the firing order and correct numbering of the cylinders:

Once you have all the wires marked, you can start pulling the wires off the cap. I recommend leaving the other end on the spark plugs, this just helps with reassembly.

Step 3: now it's time to get the cap off there. Using your 1/4" ratchet, remove the 2 bolts (1 on each side) holding the cap down. I had to use the 7mm wrench to start the bolts on the old cap, as it wouldn't let me get the socket on there, but the new one was no problem. Once you have the bolts out, just lift the cap straight up off the distributor. You will now see the rotor button perched on top of the distributor shaft:

Just lift this straight up off the shaft to remove it. Here's a pic of my old and new buttons for comparison:


Step 4: You will now see a flat plate below where the cap sat. This is your camshaft position sensor. Carefully lift it up off the shaft and set aside. I just set it off to the side near the brake booster, but you should

Here's a pic of the distributor after everything is removed from it. You can see the bolt I broke here , as well as the notch for the sensor plate wires



Step 5: *VERY IMPORTANT!* Now you should be left with just the distributor itself there. First, make a mark on the side of the distributor nearest the intake manifold. Make a corresponding mark on the manifold so that you will be able to reinstall it EXACTLY as it came out. Also, take note of the notch at the top of the shaft, and make a mark on the distributor where it is pointing. This is how I marked it, and you can see how useful a mirror is for this I don't have the notch marked in this pic, but just make a mark on the side of the dist where the notch is pointing. There are only 2 ways for this to go back in, you'll see what I mean.


Step 6: Now to remove it. There is 1 bolt and a clamp underneath the dist, this is what holds it on there and in place. Use your short 1/2" wrench to loosen this bolt, then remove the bolt and clamp and set aside. (the cowl makes a wonderful toolbench for this job )

A pic of the bolt in question:


And here is a good pic of the backside courtesy of google. It helped me to know exactly what I was working with back there



Now, once you are confident that you have marked the orientation of the dist AND notch in the shaft, you can pull it out. I had to wiggle it a bit to break it free, but it came out quite easily. Just lift it up and out of there.

A pic of the distributor. Notice the flat notch at the bottom of the shaft, This slips down into a notch in the cam gear, as you can see in the next pic. I highlighted the notch because it's hard to tell that it's there. This is the reason for marking the notch on the top of the shaft, and you can now see how it can go in 1 of 2 ways. As long as you marked it you shouldn't have any trouble getting this notch back in the gear in the correct way.





That's it! I had to remove mine because I broke a distributor bolt off while replacing my cap and rotor, but you are probably replacing it with a new or upgraded part.

Re-assembly:

Re-installation is pretty much just the opposite of removal, just make sure you get everything back together how it came apart.

Step 1: Apply a small amount of grease to the distributor O ring, line up your top notch with the corrsponding mark you made earlier, and fish it straight back down in there. You might have to try a couple times to get the shaft seated down in the notch in the gear, I was like a teenage boy tryin to find the hole his first time for a couple minutes

Step 2: After you get it seated down, line your distributor-to-intake marks up again, then reinstall and tighten the clamp and bolt.

Step 3: Carefully reinstall the sensor plate. Theres only 1 way it will sit in there, with the wires at about 11 oclock when looking straight down at it. Theres a notch in the dist body for the wires, so you can't screw this part up

Step 4: Slide the rotor button back onto the distributor shaft, making sure that it is seated correctly in the notch.

Step 5: Install the cap. Note that the #1 terminal is marked, orient the cap so that this terminal is at about 7 oclock position. note the two screw mounts on the dist housing, one is square(passenger side), the other rounded, so this should be hard to mess up too **NOTE: be careful tightening the bolts on the cap, do not overtighten! I obviously broke one off when replacing my cap, and it didn't take much force at all.

Step 6: Now that the cap is on, you can begin replacing your plug wires. Start with #1, and continue around the cap following the firing order in the pic earlier in this post. (The firing order, as well as distributor rotation, is molded clearly into the top of the intake manifold also) Lastly, replace the coil wire onto the center terminal. Route the #8 wire so it goes straight down over the valvecover and crosses the other wires at a 90* angle. (see this post: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2138068-post4.html)

Step 7: Before reinstalling the airbox, start the truck up and make sure it runs smooth with no misses. If it idles and runs roughly, shut it off and recheck your plug wires. If all your wires are on in the correct order and it is still running badly, you may have incorrectly positioned your dist, or have the dist shaft in backwards. If it runs nice and smooth, install the airbox, and take er out for a test drive


ADDITIONAL NOTES ON DISTRIBUTOR TIMING

A friendly discussion about how the timing works on these motors:
see this thread for more info https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ve-a-look.html

 

Brilliant write-up.

As for Step 4, yes, that flat plate inside of the distributor is the CKP (Camshaft Sensor). I should have advised you to disconnect it, clean the connectors both on the sensor and the harness, and then apply dielectric grease to the contacts before reinstallation. When I had reassembled my engine, I just plugged it in and was encountering multiple misfires. Once the connections were cleaned and grease applied, it all worked great.

 

nice write up!!!

 

Nice job dude. I never thought of putting a piece of plywood there, but that is a great idea.

 

Great job...this should be in the DIY section.

 

After further review of the DIY, I noticed a glaring discrepancy -- NO MENTION OF BEER. Not only is this en egregious offense, but doubly so considering that Maxx Magnum is of Canadian origin...eh.

 

hahaha omg you know, I had beer in the tools required list and I had wrote something along the lines of 'install airbox then have a beer. Then take it for a test run' but I thought people would give me crap for drinkin and driving

this personally should have been a 2 beer job, but I managed to turn it into about 10

 

Good job, especially with the pics. I am definitely a visual learner.

 

i agree man nice job !

 

Thanks guys I wrote it up like I would want to read it if I were gonna do this (for the first time ) I am also a good visual learner, I like having pics to see what I'm doin