504 governor

Hello all;
It's time to work on the 504 governor, since it was making weird noises and then failed completely (can't adjust speed from very low idle).
I've got everything out of the way, removed the radiator assembly stuff completely since it has it's own issues.
When I unbolt the governor housing, is everything going to fall in my lap (or on the ground), or should it hang fairly well together? I think I already know that I have to NOT remove the pinion or I'll risk having timing issues. With any luck, I'll find an obviously broken something or other and life will be easy.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Jim

There is no way you can repair the internals of the governor without removing the gear as it is an intricate part of the governor. Align your timing mark at top dead center and note which position the distributor rotor is pointing to number one or number four cylinder. Then when you reinstall, put it back it to that same position. I would time it with a light after running but if you don't at least static time it to top dead center.

Thanks for your reply Pete.
I got eager and jumped the gun and got started before your reply. Somewhat surprisingly, nothing fell to pieces and fell out; everything LOOKED good enough. Actually, that's disappointing; I hoped to find something obvious such as a broken spring. I don't know why it actually wouldn't come off of low idle.
I've looked at some related material on youtube. It appears that the ball bearing ring is worn enough to warrant replacing. The rockshaft seals seem to allow a little play so I'll do them too. Nothing else looks suspicious, though I'll get all the springs and usual culprits as long as I'm in there.

Now, please understand that I'm certainly not disagreeing with what you said about having to pull the gear out; I'm just trying to learn here. From the diagrams, it would appear that the pinion assembly is one piece and would pull out if I tried. It looks like I could then re-insert that pinion and it wouldn't make any difference if THAT gear went back in the original position or 180 out, as long as the distributor gear wasn't moved. Of course, if I'm wrong I could be in for a Very Bad Day...

Additionally, why would I have to remove the pinion gear in the first place? All the distributor stuff works well enough; it's just the governor portion that isn't working (although I don't really know why it isn't!) Wouldn't I be good to go with just the springs, bearings, and seals?

Thanks,
Jim

There are two parts on that style of governor that generally need replacing. First is the spring, the second is the thrust bearing that sits on the end of the shaft. Failure of one causes the tractor to be stuck at idle. The other causes the tractor to run at full throttle.

The thrust bearing is probably completely disintegrated, leaving only the washer(s), which is why nothing looks obviously wrong.