To Butt or not to Butt

I was in the garage, wiping oil off my shaft... oil shaft that is. I sliced my index and thumb open on the end of it, so I decided to come inside for a while and read the forums.

I'm replacing the timing chain in the Mighty Dauntless. It was making noise at idle. The stock chain wasn't too bad. There was some deflection, but I'm not sure if it's enough to make the noise.

Upon disassembly, I found no cam button or spring. For the last hour, I have been trying to find more information about the missing part. Sparky has posted several times that some Jeeps didn't have them. My timing cover has no wear at all where it would ride. I can't tell if this motor is a virgin, or has a recent rebuild. The oil pump looks barely worn. The distributor gears look fine as well.

Do I need the button? Could this be a cause for the clatter, in addition to the chain? Also, how much pressure should the tensioner place on the chain? My spring isn't especially tight- I'm sure this could make it clatter too.

Thanks, guys. I need to go peroxide my wounds. Damn shaft is sharp!

 

FWIW mine has no button and never has had. There are some chain manufacturers that do not require a tensioner and some do. Sorry about your cuts.

 

Cam buttons are normally used in gear drive applications, chains tend to keep the cam in its proper location.

Also, some early roller lifter setups were prone to problems unless a button was used to position the cam.

 

I had one in my 1969 225, and in 1975 231OF. These are pictures from my new cam button bought from TA Performance.

 

That looks just like my factory 225 button. My factory spring was ok but the button was worn bad. I couldn't find one at the time so I machined one from phenolic.

You can kind of see the assembly line now,
"Hey Fred where's the cam buttons, uuuh don't know. Foorgetaboutit Sam just slap it together, by the time some one realize's its not there the warranty will be out and we can say its driver error.
Uh good idea!! "

 

Kinda funny because I also cut my thumb open on the oil pump shaft...hopefully yours isn't as deep as mine was

 

Glad to know I'm not the Lone Bloody Ranger.

I reassembled it without the button. The new Comp Cams chain and gears were a tight fit- I had to go around a few times with 320 grit inside the cam gear to make it fit. The Mighty One popped off with half a key turn. A bit of tweaking with the timing light and a dwell meter has it purring like a kitten having it's tummy rubbed. And no clatter.



Before



After

Stay tuned for next weeks episode, "Eddie battles the exhaust leaks".