46 Dodge deluxe distributor removal

[Cdn97]

My father is working on his 46 dodge d24.  He has been trying to remove the distributor for over a week.  Removed the bolt and it does not budge.  Any ideas?  Thought it may have to be in a certain position, but not sure. 

[Bbdakota]

I believe it should lift right out. Maybe some carbon buildup holding it in. 

[Cdn97]

Apparently he put a rope on it with a set of blocks and it didn’t budge.  Can’t believe he didn’t break something.   We have to be missing something.  

[Jerry Roberts]

Does it come part way out ?  On some of the longer blocks you have to turn the crankshaft for clearance . 

[Don Coatney]

Rotate the crankshaft until the timing pointer is at top dead center.

[9 foot box]

   It's a good idea to pull the plugs and turn the engine over to TopDeadCenter , with the rotor about 7 o'clock. Then, you can put it back in the same way. A 7/16" wrench should loosen the bolt in the lower left front of the distributor, holding it to the block. It's probably too built up with crud to see very well. But, that's  the bolt that holds the distributor in.

[Merle Coggins]

I had one rusted in pretty tight once. Used a mallet and tapped on the vac advance unit a bit until I got it to rotate. (Light taps to keep from damaging the vac advance) Then kept working it back and forth until it loosened up enough to come out. 

[Los_Control]

7 hours ago, 9 foot box said:

 It's a good idea to pull the plugs and turn the engine over to TopDeadCenter , with the rotor about 7 o'clock.

I second this advice

The distributor is slotted, in theory it goes back in 2 ways, right or wrong. BUT.... It is driven off the oil pump. We have to assume the oil pump is installed as the manual instructs.

At least check your #1 plug wire location on the cap before you remove it.

 

When I installed mine, I just made a mental note on where the rotor was pointing when I pulled it .

Then installed the wires starting with #1 at 7 0'clock position.

I was 100% sure everything was just like the book said, but still would not run.

 

When I put it on TDC and checked it out, My #1 plug wire is in the 6 0'clock position, because someone did not get the oil pump installed as the manual describes.

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

Remove the 7/16" mounting bolt to the block....the distributor should be able to turn...if not the base of the distributor is frozen in the block...

Time to get a good penetrate at the distributor base to help it loosen up.

Chrysler Straight eights are notorious for this issue as little oil gets up to the distributor base. The dizzy is high up on the block.

Lube and careful tapping/rotating is all you can do.