How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make?

Posted By: Kern Dog

How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 01:28 AM

I have a .030 over '74 440 that threw a rod in 2004. I have been tempted to buy a single new piston and a reconditioned connecting rod and screw the motor back together.
I am aware of the heavy six pack rods and their excessive mass, though I don't recall ever seeing them up close. I'm curious about the standard 4 barrel rods, since the short block I have was originally in a police car.
A side note: I am a little hesistant to use any of the rods in this 440 since it seems to have been a cursed engine. Besides breaking a rod, one of the rocker shafts from this motor snapped while in yet another motor. THAT was interesting... immediate loss of oil pressure and power after 4 lifters popped out of their holes!

Posted By: torkrules

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 01:50 AM

Quote:

I have a .030 over '74 440 that threw a rod in 2004. I have been tempted to buy a single new piston and a reconditioned connecting rod and screw the motor back together.
I am aware of the heavy six pack rods and their excessive mass, though I don't recall ever seeing them up close. I'm curious about the standard 4 barrel rods, since the short block I have was originally in a police car.
A side note: I am a little hesistant to use any of the rods in this 440 since it seems to have been a cursed engine. Besides breaking a rod, one of the rocker shafts from this motor snapped while in yet another motor. THAT was interesting... immediate loss of oil pressure and power after 4 lifters popped out of their holes!

Unless the rods are really beat, the stock 440 rods are extremely tough. Chances are they broke from other factors (rod bolts, succumbing to detonation, rod bearing problems due to oiling issues, etc.)

There are only two rods. The six pack or heavy duty rods and the standard rods. Personally, I'm not a real fan of the 6 pack rods since they are a lot of extra weight for no real benefit. All the extra metal is in the beams. Typically the week point is in the broached area for the rod bolts. This is one of the benefits of rods that use cap screws instead of bolts.

I would have the other rods checked. If the check ok, I would replace the broken one. If more are on their way out it might be cheaper to invest in some aftermarket H beam rods. With this being a 74 engine, it probably has a cast crank so an after market rod will probably necessitate re-balancing. At that point it might also make more sense to replace the crank with a steel one.

Posted By: RSNOMO

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 01:51 AM

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Posted By: lewtot184

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 03:09 AM

Quote:

Quote:

I have a .030 over '74 440 that threw a rod in 2004. I have been tempted to buy a single new piston and a reconditioned connecting rod and screw the motor back together.
I am aware of the heavy six pack rods and their excessive mass, though I don't recall ever seeing them up close. I'm curious about the standard 4 barrel rods, since the short block I have was originally in a police car.
A side note: I am a little hesistant to use any of the rods in this 440 since it seems to have been a cursed engine. Besides breaking a rod, one of the rocker shafts from this motor snapped while in yet another motor. THAT was interesting... immediate loss of oil pressure and power after 4 lifters popped out of their holes!

Unless the rods are really beat, the stock 440 rods are extremely tough. Chances are they broke from other factors (rod bolts, succumbing to detonation, rod bearing problems due to oiling issues, etc.)

There are only two rods. The six pack or heavy duty rods and the standard rods. Personally, I'm not a real fan of the 6 pack rods since they are a lot of extra weight for no real benefit. All the extra metal is in the beams. Typically the week point is in the broached area for the rod bolts. This is one of the benefits of rods that use cap screws instead of bolts.

I would have the other rods checked. If the check ok, I would replace the broken one. If more are on their way out it might be cheaper to invest in some aftermarket H beam rods. With this being a 74 engine, it probably has a cast crank so an after market rod will probably necessitate re-balancing. At that point it might also make more sense to replace the crank with a steel one.

there was a 3rd rod. i believe it came out in '63 and was for sure used in the '64 stageIII s/s wedge engines. it had more material in the rod bolt area.

Posted By: Cab_Burge

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 06:50 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

I have a .030 over '74 440 that threw a rod in 2004. I have been tempted to buy a single new piston and a reconditioned connecting rod and screw the motor back together.
I am aware of the heavy six pack rods and their excessive mass, though I don't recall ever seeing them up close. I'm curious about the standard 4 barrel rods, since the short block I have was originally in a police car.
A side note: I am a little hesistant to use any of the rods in this 440 since it seems to have been a cursed engine. Besides breaking a rod, one of the rocker shafts from this motor snapped while in yet another motor. THAT was interesting... immediate loss of oil pressure and power after 4 lifters popped out of their holes!

Unless the rods are really beat, the stock 440 rods are extremely tough. Chances are they broke from other factors (rod bolts, succumbing to detonation, rod bearing problems due to oiling issues, etc.)

There are only two rods. The six pack or heavy duty rods and the standard rods. Personally, I'm not a real fan of the 6 pack rods since they are a lot of extra weight for no real benefit. All the extra metal is in the beams. Typically the week point is in the broached area for the rod bolts. This is one of the benefits of rods that use cap screws instead of bolts.

I would have the other rods checked. If the check ok, I would replace the broken one. If more are on their way out it might be cheaper to invest in some aftermarket H beam rods. With this being a 74 engine, it probably has a cast crank so an after market rod will probably necessitate re-balancing. At that point it might also make more sense to replace the crank with a steel one.

there was a 3rd rod. i believe it came out in '63 and was for sure used in the '64 stageIII s/s wedge engines. it had more material in the rod bolt area.

There are several more than those two, 1969 440 6 pak had its own forging number, the LY rods and some early 413/426 street wedge rods also

OP, if it is a 1970 to 1975 police car 440 it probally has the later six pak style rod in it

I have a bunch of OEM LY rods, some still on pistons, I'm sure I could come up with 8 good ones, you will probally need to have the crank assembly rebalanced if you switch from the heavy rods to the LY rods

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 04:03 PM

To answer the OPs question , there were only 2 440 what is refered to as a 6pk rod and the LY rod, the 69 6pk used a specially prepped LY rod.

franky , the LY rod has an LY on the beam and a forging number that begins with 18 , the 6pk rod will have a forging number that begins with a 2.

The 6pk forging was a good idea , the STUPID part was making that heavy rod and leaving the 3/8 bolts in it instead of putting in 7/16 bolts ...

I'll bet the same donkey responsible for that was the genius that thought putting 906 length valves in the stage 6 head with it's raised intake ports was a good idea ...

Posted By: DPelletier

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/04/13 06:51 PM

http://www.440source.com/stockrods.htm

...I agree with John; the heavier "906" rods are stronger though the rod bolts should have been upsized. A new set of quality rod bolts gives you a decent package....as far as weight, it's a heck of a lot easier to shave the 20 or 30 grams from the piston selection.

Dave

Posted By: Kern Dog

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 12:05 AM

Thanks everyone!

Posted By: dhkennedy

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 01:16 AM

Each rod was different... take the number of engines made X8= Number of rods made minimum. Sorry, could not help it, ex had called and askded if she should buy some oil for her sqeekie brakes.

Posted By: Dean_Kuzluzski

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 04:01 PM

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.... A new set of quality rod bolts gives you a decent package....as far as weight, it's a heck of a lot easier to shave the 20 or 30 grams from the piston selection.

Not trying to start anything here..............

but once you upgrade the rodbolts and reduce piston/recip. weight wouldn't a good set of LY's do the job just fine???

I know most would question the past history, but for sake of conversation lets say you has some LY's that were NOS.

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 05:01 PM

Quote:

Quote:

.... A new set of quality rod bolts gives you a decent package....as far as weight, it's a heck of a lot easier to shave the 20 or 30 grams from the piston selection.

Not trying to start anything here..............

but once you upgrade the rodbolts and reduce piston/recip. weight wouldn't a good set of LY's do the job just fine???

I know most would question the past history, but for sake of conversation lets say you has some LY's that were NOS.

They sure would, even non NOS. MoparBilly is a testament to that , pretty sure he sprayed a set for many 100's of passes ...

Posted By: DPelletier

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 09:44 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

.... A new set of quality rod bolts gives you a decent package....as far as weight, it's a heck of a lot easier to shave the 20 or 30 grams from the piston selection.

Not trying to start anything here..............

but once you upgrade the rodbolts and reduce piston/recip. weight wouldn't a good set of LY's do the job just fine???

I know most would question the past history, but for sake of conversation lets say you has some LY's that were NOS.

They sure would, even non NOS. MoparBilly is a testament to that , pretty sure he sprayed a set for many 100's of passes ...

Yep, ly rods would be fine...but the 906s are still stronger. Depends what you want.

Dave

Posted By: Dean_Kuzluzski

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/05/13 11:15 PM

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Yep, ly rods would be fine...but the 906s are still stronger. Depends what you want.

Dave

Want? With better technology the "overkill engineering" of the 6-Pack rod is excessive mass that will slow rpm's for whatever level of pumpgas motor I'd build.

Maybe if I was going to lean on it hard with nitrous they would come in handy.

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/06/13 03:00 PM

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Yep, ly rods would be fine...but the 906s are still stronger. Depends what you want.

Dave

Want? With better technology the "overkill engineering" of the 6-Pack rod is excessive mass that will slow rpm's for whatever level of pumpgas motor I'd build.

Maybe if I was going to lean on it hard with nitrous they would come in handy.

I want to say that a CCJ H beam rod weighs close to the 906 rod , but they are better material and bigger bolts .

For me 906 rods are for those building trailer poodles that have to have correct original parts installed where they will NEVER be seen at a car show ...

Posted By: DPelletier

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/06/13 06:49 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Yep, ly rods would be fine...but the 906s are still stronger. Depends what you want.

Dave

Want? With better technology the "overkill engineering" of the 6-Pack rod is excessive mass that will slow rpm's for whatever level of pumpgas motor I'd build.

Maybe if I was going to lean on it hard with nitrous they would come in handy.

If you have pistons that are 100 grams lighter, the 20 grams in the rods for better strength isnt a big deal...but as john ssid there are lighter AND stronger rods available now. I still say the 906s get a bad rap that is largely undeserved. If you want to whine about stock parts, start with the pistons...or the heads!

Dave

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/06/13 08:54 PM

They made their own bad rap but the half hearted design carried out by Chrysler ..

Posted By: DPelletier

Re: How many different 440 rods did Chrysler make? - 01/07/13 05:17 PM

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They made their own bad rap but the half hearted design carried out by Chrysler ..

They could have been better, but they are still stronger than LY's. I'd rather take the weight out of the 1100 gram pistons where the weight contributes nothing than the 860 gram rods where the extra metal actually does something.

Dave