How to extract front crankshaft gears?

[Philippe-J.]

As I don't want to mess it up, I'd like to ask for the better way to extract the distance piece (18), Oil Thrower (19), Timing Chain Gear (20) and Oil Pump Drive Gear (21) from the crankshaft? Simply with a bearing puller?
As a matter of fact, I detected some play in the timing chain gear in rotation, of some 0.02" at the level of the teeth. So I need to check the Woodruff Key (15) obviously.
Thanks for your answers and advice.

[mgcjag]

I cant think of a "better" way than a puller......Steve

[Philippe-J.]

Do you confirm that there is no other bolt than #25 to loosen before pulling?

[mgcjag]

Is your crankshaft out of the engine?....there is no other bolt..but if its not removed the drive gear is meshed into the distributor drive....Steve

[Philippe-J.]

Yes the crankshaft is on the bench.
Thanks for your reply. I'll pull the gears out, to discover the reason for the "clunck" noise of the timing gear when turned by hand

[abowie]

The distance piece is most likely to cause trouble. It may have an o ring under it.

I'd just use a brass drift and a hammer. They're not usually very hard to get off.

Woodroffe key can be removed by gripping it with a pair of side cutters and levering it out.

[Philippe-J.]

Thank you all for your advices.
Indeed the gears proved not difficult to get out (see photo) with the puller.
I then measured the central Woodroffe key, & found it to be 6/100 mm thinner than the others. Actually, when pushed back in place of the Oil Pump Drive Gear and its own key, no more rotation play in the timing chain gear.
Only issue now: to remove the culprit key, as it seems to be seized in the crankshaft, even if too thin I have to try Andrew's way.

[mgcjag]

Are you also removeing the sludge trap plugs to clean out the crank....If you cant pull the key out as Andrew suggests you may need to use hammer and chisel

[Philippe-J.]

I surely will be removing the sludge trap plugs to clean out the crank, yes. It would be a mistake not to clean the oil line after dismantling the engine so deeply. BTW, are the plugs from a racing specialist worth it, as compared to those from the usuals?

[mgcjag]

You can get genuine Jaguar...typically try to avoid aftermarket....Rob Beere is ideally the go to place for anything internal to the engine.....Steve

[mgcjag]

Typically you will need an impact wrench to get them out

[Philippe-J.]

Thanks for your confirmation. Indeed I had Rob Beere in mind, after Rory's advice
And I do have an impact wrench, so !

[rfs1957]

The Woodruff keys are not designed to actually do much work, in my understanding of engineering, in that they rely on the adjacent clamping forces being extremely high, so that the shear efforts are taken on those surfaces and not on the Woodruff keys, which would quickly fret and get sloppy if they were truly subject to the cyclical vibrations of this drive.

Any funny play or slop you have felt anywhere should therefore not normally be related to the condition or sizes of the Woodruff keys. I have always used bearing-fit Loctite on areas like these for belt-and-braces.

You will probably find the gallery bungs have been punched to retain them, and you should get the correct tap, a bottoming or 3rd one is best, to clean up the threads in the crank before you fit new ones.

[Philippe-J.]

Rory,

not sure I understand completely your point about the Woodruff keys. What I do see is that the timing gear is free in rotation to a certain extent, i.e. half a degree maybe, wrt to the crankshaft. I infer that each acceleration or deceleration of the crankshaft rotation creates a shock to the timing chain, doesn't it? Only a tight key would prevent this, which is desirable, as far as I understand. Anyway such a key is not expensive, so worth changing, with Loctite as a matter of course.

As for the gallery bungs, thanks for your advice. Indeed they are punched by 3 points each, so you're right, reconditioning the threads is mandatory.