Different Distributor?

[Harold R]

I noticed on my Dad's project cub that the distributor seemed to be larger than the normal distributor. The spring clips are shorter and the neck portion seems to be longer than an original cub distrib. The cap and wires are literally jammed against the oil filter housing. The tag says Prestolite. Dad said he thinks the local dealer may have put that on. I'm thinking it's a distrib. for another Farmall, but perhaps this was a dealer replacement?

[Bus Driver]

The parts catalog does list a Prestolite distributor. Since it is not often mentioned, it must be rather rare. I have never seen one on a Cub.

[Matt Kirsch]

The "stock" IH distributor is the same on all the old IH 4-cylinder engines, from the Cub on up through the big W9.

Prestolite is a common replacement distributor. I remember when the original IH distributor on Dad's M wore out, Central Tractor was the least expensive source, and they sold him a Prestolite.

TM has the ignition parts for the Prestolite, as should any good NAPA store.

[Rudi]

Harold:

I thought for sure that somewhere on the server would be the list of the different Distributor Assemblies for the Cub or other Farmalls, but I have looked through the TC-37F A, D, F and haven't found it, as well as the Battery Ignition Package under the Optional Equipment link.

I thought that most were Delco's and some Prestolite's, but I can't find the reference numbers to determine which. Maybe Jim has them...

The actual length of a minute depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.

This tells me you have either spent way too much time in the air, or you have daughters.. I have 4 and a minute can be an eternity

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

the Prestolite distributor is shown in group 12, page 27 of my parts manual. The distributor from a cub would also mount on the bigger tractors, and vice versa, but they were different internally, the advance curves were different. How much this would affect performance in the real world though, I don't know.

[rustynuts]

Mine is smashed up worse than yours its a delco.

[Harold R]

I guess if you find it in a parts manual......it was a dealer replacement. Best that can be recalled, this tractor was returned to the local I/H dealership for service sometime around 1980. It's unclear to anybody associated with the tractor what exactly was done by the dealership as far as repair. Only the groundskeeper used the tractor for a number of years while at the shop. Dad said he always took good care of it, but he retired too. He'd be the only one who would know what was different about the tractor after the dealer got through with it. What I'm trying to ascertain is if an owner took his 25 year old, original, tractor into a dealership, what would it be like when it came out of the shop? This tractor has a Zenith carb, 12v conversion...including starter and solenoid and a push button starter.....even lights off a later model cub....perhaps to complete the 12v conversion. None of which the tractor would have had originally. It's a trivial pursuit, I admit. And perhaps there were no "written in stone" maintenence proceedure handed down from I/H. Probably varied from dealer to dealer, and customer to customer. When my Dad asked if he wanted it back closer to the way it was originally when his Dad first bought it......he wanted to know who changed it and why? I think Dad will tell him it was probably the dealership, because that's the parts they had handy.

[Harold R]

This tells me you have either spent way too much time in the air, or you have daughters..

Both!

[Rudi]

John:

You are right... I missed it...

[Kirk]

Rusty,

That masonic emblem looks great on your Cub

[Larry in IN]

Rudi, Mon Ami,
That is definitely the first time I have ever observed you without something [usually VERY worthwhile, he hastened to add ] to say

Hope everything is O.K.

Larry

[Jim Becker]

As John said, internal differences altered the advance in different distributors. I believe there is a copy of the Blue Ribbon Handbook, Engine Tune-Up Specifications on Rudi's server. It gives the different advances for different engines. It also lists part numbers of different springs, which leads me to believe they all used the same weights.

[rustynuts]

Thanks Kirk I had 2 extra from a while back and I thought they found a proper place to reside other than in my truck console box. Almost put a circle on but these were 5 or 10 years old and still looked nice.

[Larry in IN]

again - Rudi,
My turn -when I first pulled this post up, your message had not come thru yet just a blank message space. - dial-up scores again
This restores my faith
Larry

[Eugene]

As John said, internal differences altered the advance in different distributors. I believe there is a copy of the Blue Ribbon Handbook, Engine Tune-Up Specifications on Rudi's server. It gives the different advances for different engines. It also lists part numbers of different springs, which leads me to believe they all used the same weights.

My thoughts. That distributor could have come off of a number of different engines built by different manufacturers. The basic distributor may have been a direct bolt in or required a drive gear and/or springs change to mount in the Cub. The swap could have been done at any time by a reasonably knowledgable mechanic.

Eugene