Distributor lubrication?

Folks got a 64 Ford 2000 gas tractor and was looking over the reprint owners manual. Maintenance calls for "a few drops of seasonal engine oil in the oil cup (on distro)" at 100 hrs and "apply a portion of Ball Bearing Grease the size of match head" to the distro cam? Never heard of lubrication of a distro before so it this something I should be doing or an outdated/useless practice?
 
You are lubricating the distributor lobes where the points rub, yes about a match head worth.

I also check the rotation and put the grease so it packs quickly behind the rub bar, do not want it to sling off before it gets there.
 
As far as the oil in the distributor cup goes, when you check
your engine oil lift the cup cover and let a couple of drops run
off the end of the dipstick into the cup. That's all it needs there.

The points lube is separate as already posted.
I don't use bearing grease though. There is lube made for points.
NAPA part number used to be ML1, not sure if it still is.
A tube of it seems to last forever.
 
Ditto what Royse said on the napa lube.. ML1 cam lobe lube. It's to keep the lobe from wearing, and helps the rubbing block
too. Some breakers used to ( some still do ) give you a 'pill' with a small bit of grease in them for this.

If you get the tube of ML1, you will have enough for a fleet of gas tractors for life. If you don't want that much, if you
have access to some synthetic / silicone grease, that will do. And as DavG stated,just a dab so it will collect onthe rubbing
block and be applied slowly with wear. don't stick it int he middle where it will sling off on startup.

On the oil cups for gennies and dizzies. most of the wicks are so dried that I hit them with penetrant spray oil when I get
the tractor. that gets oily fluid thru the wick to where it needs to go. once the wick is saturated, then you can add the
drop of oil at startup.

Here's my trick. I check t he engine oil at each startup. I flip the cover open and let a drip or two of the engine oil from
the stick go into wick... 2 birds with one stone.

You could ov course save an old eye or nose dropper and fill with oil remnants out of oil change bottles. or use a 3in1 oil
can... etc.

When i change oil in my diesel trucks, they take 4g each. I invert the gallon jugs and let them drain their final drippings
into a jar. Each season, that's 3 oil changes, thus 12 1g jugs. the residue that drips from those can add up to 4-5 ounces
easilly. I put that oil in small containers and use to spot oil things. I use hi quality synthetic oil in the diesels, so
that free 4-5 oz oil for spot oiling is good stuff.
 
thanks folks I appreciate it. I called my NAPA guy and he said ML1 was hard to come by and recommended just using Dielectric as it's made for electrical connections? I'm not a wrench guru but also know parts guys and mechanic guys often have difference of opinion on such matter so will dielectric work for cam or should just order the ML1?
 
Dielectric grease is designed specifically for electrical contacts. It is an insulator. It coats the exposed metal parts to prevent oxidation and prevents arcing and shorts between parts of a circuit that are in close proximity, but it allows itself to be easily displaced at the points where two metal contacts touch directly so that electricity can flow, so it doesn't do very well as a lubricant because it allows itself to be displaced very easily. You want a grease that will stay where you put it and provide lubrication for a long time.
 

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