remove distributor gear/oil pump drive gear?

[mdcops8]

Okay i have a 72 plymouth satellite with 318 and i need to replace the oil pump drive gear/distributor drive gear, is there any way to do this without tearing down the engine? Whats the best way to replace this?

[eagleone1983]

If I remember on my 383 which should be the same you just remove the distributor and pull the gear out. I don't remember it being hard.

[Meep-Meep]

Yep, you can probably twist it out with a big screwdriver.

[Dako]

With the distributor removed, grab the outer edge and the center of the gear with a set of 'mechanical fingers'. Doing this allowed me to twist and lift at the same time. Don't know about the rest of you, but my hands just won't fit down that distributor hole...and I only wear a size 8 shoe.

Don't forget to note where the slot is for the distributor shaft prior to removing the old shaft! Doing so makes it easier to index the replacement shaft.

[dryheat]

My first question would be why do you need to replace it?

If it suffered some type of failure then you may have bigger issues.

P.S. I'm in AZ if you need some help

[mdcops8]

Thanks guys i was tired and didnt think this one through. dryheat, There was a timing problem. car would run real shoddy unless i tilted the distributor a bit and also the timing was jumping around when i put a light to the balancer so i thought i should replace that gear. I replaced it and same problem. Just removed the front cover last night to0 replace the timing chain with a double roller and found that the bolt on the cam was very loose. Also, old chain and gears had about 5/32 in stretch. Havent finished putting it together yet but im pretty sure that was my problem.