Hello all. The saga continues....this is my third fuel pump posting. I removed my fuel pump yesterday and the push rod slipped right out (thank goodness). The end that makes contact to the fuel pump looks like new, the end that goes into the block was worn. That end was brass in color, it was slightly "curled" over on the lip and there was a noticeable "slant" to the end. I put it on a square and the wear was very noticeable. Is this wear enough to effect my engine, causing it to stop and/or give the effect of running out of fuel?? Also, when I get a new push rod will both ends be steel, or do I need to stay with a push rod that has a "brass" end that goes against the cam?? Any input is appreciated. As always, thanks!

Yes the wear will affect the output of the pump. When you get a new one mic it and compare the length of the two.
The ones I have seen are steel--I don;t know that I've ever seen a brass end???

Thanks for the reply. I have the push rod in my hand....One end is solid steel, the other end has approximately 1/4" of "brass" at the tip. Looking directly at the push rod the center is steel with the brass encompassing the remainder of the diameter of the rod. (hope that makes sense) Also, the end that has the brass, it has the appearance of being "ground down", not a precise, machined lip as the steel end. Could someone have "locally manufactured" this push rod (ground down one end and added the brass to fill out the end?)for use and it wound up in my engine?? In my opinion the push rod should be machined steel. Correct?

Hopefully your cam is not worn now, but I've managed to have good luck here by saving and re-using pushrods out of old virgin big block engines that were in good shape upon engine disassembly.

Length shouls be 3.25"... What type camshaft are you running? A billet roller requires a bronze tipped pushrod, otherwise it should be hardebed steel...I would find an old one that still measures 3.25 & use if, proven quality rather then trhe questionable stuff thats currently avalible...

Thanks for the reply. Not sure of the cam. I used a tape measure on the push rod (close, though not the most accurate), the rod measures right at 3 1/16 inches. Would the push rod wear down to that measurement in about 500 miles of use?? I'm trying to reach the engine builder to find out about the cam. More to follow I'm sure!

I've used several of the brass tipped pushrods. They are a wearable item just like the brass gear on the oilpump drive. I've got one in my GTX that has over 8K miles on it and it still looks like new, and I've put 2 in my Charger and it has less than 2K miles on it. My shop truck has over 20K on it and we've been through 3 oilpump drive gears and 1 fuel pump rod. I understand that the newwer rods have a differant brass/bronze end on them than the early ones did. Several of my friends run them also and have really good luck, but they are a wearable item.

my suggestion would be to get one that's known to be hardened like the Hughes ones or do the scribe test that a poster mentioned. I have spoken with Dave Hughes several times & he's as conscientious as they come & definitely a dyed in the wool Mopar afficionado.

I have a excellent condition pump pushrod that I pulled out of my 69 hemi a few years back. It has a groove machined about 1/4 inch below one end - is this an oil groove? Does the groove end go to the cam or the pump (I can't remember)