Quote Originally Posted by m38inmaine View Post
If you can somewhat freely turn the distributor rotor( with the distributor body locked down) 360 degrees by hand something is wrong for sure. Should not be any need to remove the front cover again, to inspect/or replace the drive gear all you should have to do is remove the crank pulley. I would remove the oil pump and distributor first and give them a close inspection, something has broken free or stripped allowing the rotor to turn freely.
I don't know what's going on here-- that shaft did [I]not[I] turn freely before I moved the truck across the yard. At least I don't think it did, but that would explain a lot of things.

Thanks man. I think I'll start with the oil pump & see if the drive gear has come loose somehow.

Stay well.