just wondering how much side to side play a distributor shaft should/should not have.

I have a 91 suburban 350 TBI and I'm trying to track down a stumble in the engine when i let off the throttle and when i just barely push the throttle. I replaced the cap and rotor less than 2000 miles ago and they already look corroded. i wiggled the shaft back and forth and there was some movement. not a ton but maybe 1-1.5 mm. is this normal? also are there distributor bushing rebuild kits out there if this is something i need to fix?

thanks in advance...

 

any thoughts anyone? one other thing....i replaced the cap and rotor with a MSD set from checker. it looked like there was a tiny bit of interference of the plastic on the top of the rotor with the cap somewhere....a bit of plastic you could tell had rubbed something.

 

You mean side-to-side movement? No, there should be none (only a few thousandths of an inch). Up and down play in the shaft is farily generous in most factory distributors, however, and generally doesn't cause much problem.

 

thanks for the reply...

so if i have more movement than a couple thousanths then do i look to rebuild or replace? if so...what is a good replacement brand?

 

My TBI truck distributor gear went just after 100k ...if you have play, its going bad, replace it... if you want to upgrade, get a better than stock brandname distributor

 

so what "better than stock" aftermarket dist are popular? do they connect right up to the factory wiring so its just a matter of installing and setting base timing?