MTFCA Forum

23 Roadster..Starter drive ate my mag coil. A recent purchase that ran and drove, but not on mag. Not a big issue, until I replaced some gaskets for leakage. When I removed the oil pan inspection cover, I noticed a pile of copper around the starter area. I assume starter was replaced without removing the starter drive first. So, I figured better not drive anymore. Pulled the motor, and here is my gear setup. The crank gear has the ford script on it. The cam gear is the dreaded fiber Cylent gear. Interesting it has a patent date of 1913. Not sure what the patent was for. Anyway, I assume the consensus will be to replace the fiber with metal?? Thanks

That's an early Cloyes gear- probably one of the higher quality fiber gears out there- not new by any means- . Probably has many miles left on it as long as the crank gear teeth are not worn out.

Yep..I concur..make it a bronze cam gear. BUT, while you have the engine out of the frame; go ahead and tear it down and install a rewound field coil and recharge the magnets. Your roadster will run better. After all, its winter now and you could have it ready by Spring touring

I concur with Dan - nothing wrong with "Cylent" fiber gears - it's the repros made for the last 40 + years that will "come from together" at the worst possible time !

I have a Cylent gear in my '25 Touring. It's been there for 50 years plus and I don't plan on replacing it anytime soon. I would NEVER use one of the new ones however. I shredded 2 already and caught a 3rd just prior to disaster.

Further to Dan’s comment, please make sure that when you reinstall the generator it is not too loose or binding against the cam gear. And yes I would continue to run it!

Thanks for the inputs...I did order a new mag ring...

I agree with Steve. Dan's gears are super. I drilled and tapped a couple of holes in mine so I could later fit a puller on it from the front. I doubt very much that it will ever need such attention, but just in case... Cheers, Bill

If you decide to keep that gear, make sure that the cam nut is tight. I have had two fiber gear failures in T engines. Both were rebuilt in the '70s so probably newer gears and maybe the bad ones, but both were also loose and appeared to have been loose for some time. I'm sure the looseness contributed to the failures. The fiber gears were much thicker and the nut only went on a few threads. I think it was hard to maintain a tight fit.

Jeff Hood wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 07, 2021 11:39 pm

If you decide to keep that gear, make sure that the cam nut is tight. I have had two fiber gear failures in T engines. Both were rebuilt in the '70s so probably newer gears and maybe the bad ones, but both were also loose and appeared to have been loose for some time. I'm sure the looseness contributed to the failures. The fiber gears were much thicker and the nut only went on a few threads. I think it was hard to maintain a tight fit.

Jeff,

I had the same trouble with a newer fiber gear that eventually ended up breaking. It came loose at least a couple of times. I finally made a washer with a "finger" on it that was bent over and fit into a small hole I drilled in the face of the gear hub. On the other side of the washer, I bent a small section of it over, onto the flat of the cam gear nut. It never cam loose again... until I had to remove the remains of the shredded gear from my engine.