Re: Mark 55 magneto drive

[jeff-register]

Beerman,
Yes you are correct. The first bearing is directly below the sheave in the top of the mag drive. In the bottom of the drive no bearing is needed as the shafts have male & female splines. The magneto/ distributer is bolted to the bottom of the drive assembly. the second shaft has four magnets as each two run two cylinders as it fires every 90 degrees. Below the magneto is the distributer & rotor. The coil is beside the distributer all in one housing.
I have ordered the three bearings needed but the shaft bearings don’t have anything to do with the timing advance. it is like two pipes, the inside one sliding on the outside. Right there is my problem where they slide. It is full of ages old hard dried out grease & no way to get at it to clean it. It is held inside the housing by bent tabs, two each & 90 degrees apart. If I bend the tabs I might break them off. Also four tabs hold the very top bearing is located by the tabs only reversed to the inside to hold the bearing in. The drive assembly is not made to come apart on early mags & was ordered as an assembly. I’m going it soak it in gasoline first & if that doesn’t free it up I’ll try air conditioning coil cleaner made for aluminum evaporator coils as they get dusty & muddy from moisture. Has anyone ever taken this 58 mag apart with bending the tabs. I think it needs to be scraped to get it clean again & use 105 to grease it. Please anyone?
Jeff