Distributor question- not timing- well sorta

[bigd65]

as yall know i have been having a problem with my timing.

well i desided to check the distributor again just to see if i can see anything. wel here is what i found. when i expand the weights out and they stop on the center plate, i can move them a little more, which would be consistant with WOT, and the shaft and advance plate lift up about 1/4 of an inch it adavnces a little farther. with that i mean i can even see the ears(didnt know what else to call them) ,8 of them for 8 cylinder of coarse, lift also and also advance a little farther.

here is my question, what is the messurement (play, slack etc...) that is suppose to be in there. in that i mean probably at the timing gear. it seems that if i can remove that slack it will prevent that little lift in the shaft and also stop that little bit of unwanted advance that aint suppose to be there anyways. is this fixable or is it time for a new distributor (they sure are high)