Originally Posted by clovis
Well I thought I was in the home stretch finally getting this engine done. I put the pan on today, was oil priming when all of a sudden the motor locked up. I was rotating the engine over as I was running the drill. Got everything oiling except driver side rocker shaft when it locked up. Pulled the pan and front cover, only to find my Pete Jackson gear drive bound up. I pulled the idler gear and rocker arms, and everything turns over nice and smooth. Put the idler gear back in and rolls over smoothly once again. I didn’t find anything in the gears, just curious what would cause the binding. I’m semi debating putting the chain on but it is crazy how there is zero play with the gear drive. Would higher spring pressures cause a problem with the gear drive?
Might have been a small piece of debris that had fallen into the oil on one of the gears that made it bind up work shruggy
I was racing Mopars when those first came out, every one I know(Ford and Chevys racers) that bought and use them had issues of some sort or another shruggy work down twocents

Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)