I'm really unsure of the cause. I don't think it was a soft rod. It had been on the old engine for 10k miles and looked good when I installed it in the new engine and worked fine until I installed the Dove rockers. It is the same cam, lifter, and pushrods I had in the old engine, in the same block, in the same positions. I think it is either oiling after installing the Dove rockers, as Ted mentioned, or maybe I got some trash in the cup when I installed the rockers.


Lawrenceville, GA

So is the final diagnosis a soft rod?

Andrew 56-Vicky

Well, I haven't paid attention to the mileage but I've had one of the other old pushrods in there for at least 200 miles.  No sign of trouble!  Tonight I put the last new one in.  So it looks like things are well concerning this issue.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie.  Using one of the original pushrods in lieu of a new one sounds like a good idea to verify if the 'wear' problem has gone away.  I'm hoping you just had a soft pushrod at this point.  Just double check the radius on the rocker stud and the fit to the replacement pushrod before reassembling.  Also double check that you're not into coil bind or that the retainer is not bottoming out on top of the guide but I would think either of these scenarios would be bending the pushrod rather than promoting a premature wear problem.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Do you think it will be a good idea to use one of the old push rods in this same location so that I don't risk sacrificing one of the new ones - only to make sure the problem is solved.  Lack of oiling as a result of an insuficient supply from the shaft isn't satisfying me.  #5 exhaust isn't shimmed and the hole appears to be in the correct position to line up with the groove.  Others had worse alignment with the hole, without worn pushrods.  I ordered replacement pushrods from John Mummert.  He said that he had sold shorter pushrods for the Dove rockers.  He had none in stock though.  I remember the instructions of some aftermarket roller rockers for a Chrysler emphasized a minimum distance between the pushrod and rocker for oiling purposes.  I wonder if this may be occuring on my #5E rocker for some reason.  Perhaps the hardened part of the pushrod got worn through?


Lawrenceville, GA

Besides the other comments regarding the wear pattern, I’m thinking that the pushrod cup wore so quickly that it wasn’t hard enough to leave a wear pattern on the rocker stud.  Only bad screw I’ve seen in the past was one where the hex for the allen wrench wasn’t broached in the top side of the stud and was just a round hole but the screw was otherwise okay.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Charlie,

           Looks like a mismatch in the radii. How well do they fit together. Maybe try it with a good pushrod or check the ball sizes versus one that's working correctly. The oil situation wouldn't help, either.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Wild guess as to why it is not shiny. Is the lifter rotating?

Thanks Ted.  I have modified the rocker shaft.  All of the oiling holes in the rocker arms are obstruction free.  Have you had any of these rocker arms with bad screws?  The screw that corresponds with the bad pushrod is not breaking in like the others.  All of the other pushrods look ok.

The bad one:

The camera makes it look shinier than it is.  It hardly looks like it's been installed.  I didn't spot any wear pattern anywhere along the ball.

The rest have a similar polished pattern such as:

I'm also curious as to what formed the step in the pushrod in the first picture I posted.  I can't find anything to explain that.

Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie, teds right on the money with the oil hole alignment. i,ve been running dove aluminum rockers for years, and found several dont get oil through them and hence dry pushrod cups, his mod fixes this. Aussiebill..

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia