Governor seal installed

[shawman]

As some of you may have read in my newbie post, I had a leaking governor seal that I wasn't sure how to fix. I am still very new to the tractor world, never worked on one before this one. I studied what I could find here, then proceeded to mess it up right off the bat. I pulled the distributor without marking it, thinking it would go right back where it was. My thoughts didn't include a shaft that didn't have some kind of flat spot, or special spline to make it fit only in one spot. Not only that, I either didn't pay attention, or see where that shaft could come out of the distributor, and stick in the governor assembly. Having played with small block chevies some, and what I read about timing here, I wasn't too stressed out about getting the timing back somehow.

The first order was to get the seal out, and the new one in. I managed to get the old seal out with an autobody type dent puller, since I didn't remove the governor. That trick was learned from here, worked very well also. I have a pretty good friend who made me a "custom" seal driver. I did pay attention to the 23/32" measurement for seal depth. I drove the seal in a few days ago. Unfortunately, the seal driver came up about 15 or so thousandths short.

Now, comes the shadetree mechanic thinking, we cut out a cardboard shim that was 16 thousandths thick, and drove the seal in with that. Results were not spot on, but range from .712 to .720. I hope that should be safe?

Back up, to a few days ago, I tried to get the timing mark to #1 top dead center. My cub had already been converted to 12 volt before I got it. The thing spins way too fast to even bump it to where I needed it to stop at #1. I have no hand crank, fortunately I know a guy who has a couple of cubs, he loaned me his to get me where I needed to be timing wise. This evening, I finally reinstalled the distributor, lucky me, it fired right off the bat. I did have to adjust it a little after the initial start, seems to be purring like a kitten now. I am pretty pleased with how it worked out, but with a little more "studying" I could have saved myself a little worry.

I can only hope any other things I have to fix, work out as well as this did. I am sure glad this forum is here, or I would have really been lost once that distributor came apart. lol

[Stanton]

Glad to hear of your success! If you haven't already downloaded the Blue Ribbon Service Manuals, you might consider doing that and familiarizing yourself with them prior to another repair job. They're a great help! Located top of page, "Rudi's Manuals" or here: http://www.cleancomputes.com/Cub/ (select "Blue Ribbon Service Manuals").