Help! (Aluminum roller rockers)

Any way you shake it, I did something really stupid: Buying Fly By Night, Inc. parts off EBay, or my ham-fisted wrenching.

I put my motor together in 2004 but life happened, it went on the back-burner, and it has yet to fire. Just now trying to get back in the game. Recently, while reading threads about roller rockers, I decided I should go back in and check them/adjust them based on the info shared here in Moparts.

Long story short, some of the adjusters sheared right off while LOOSENING them. I read in one of the threads that the locking nuts should be torqued to 25 lb-ft. Well, I hadn't applied even a fraction of that torque to the ones that sheared.

Are the adjusters supposed to be that delicate?

If not, can I buy just the adjusters from Harlan Sharp or somebody reputable? (I believe these rockers are knock-offs of H.S.) If I could go back and do it over again, I would pay the extra $$ for some steel roller rockers from comp cams or somebody. I knew better than buying cheap parts, but I just couldn't pass up this "good deal." And the set looks like they were put together right, but now I'm wondering if the roller tips are gonna come flying off if I rev it past idle.

Please, I don't want to argue about whether I should even have roller rockers. I just need some advice in a bad way.

First off, did this happen because of cheap Chi-Com metal, or could I have done something wrong during adjustment to cause this?

Thanks, Moparts.

Buying the el-cheapo junk rocker arms is a rite of passage for most Mopar engine builders. You're lucky they busted off when you tried to adjust them rather than at 10pm on a rainy night when you're 60 miles from home with your wife in the car!

I won't argue with that. Sounds like I'm not the first to do this?

I did the same thing. Bought some Pro Form rockers and had a few of the adjusters break on me. I replaced the damaged rockers and swapped out the screws for MP ajusters and haven't had a problem since.

Yeah, mine are not H.S. knockoffs, it turns out, but ProForm. MP sells the adjusters independently?

Make sure the top of the rocker where the jam nut seats is spotfaced 90 deg to the adjuster. If the nut doesn't seat square when you tighten it down it will try to bend the adjuster causing the results you're seeing. Also keep a close eye on the roller on the valve end of the rocker. They can wear rapidly causing play between the roller and the axle with dire results. I went thru the same song and dance with my "bargain" comp knock-offs and just caught them before there was catastrophic failure. Thank God for leaking valve cover gaskets. I now have MP stamped steel for the time being.

Kevin

Smith Bros is probably the best place to buy adjusters. Most rocker arm mfgs use the Smith Bros hardware.

Thanks, everybody.

Andy, all I can find from Smith Bros online are pushrods. Nothing else.

I'm not having luck finding the adjusters from MP either.

How can I tell if a roller is going bad? This is really scaring me. Apparently the only American-made rocker arms out there are the Harland Sharp wallet-busters. And as if they weren't far enough beyond my budget, I'd have to get longer valves, too!

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be gearheads...

hey Wild bill: did you use Part # P5007444AB on the Pro-Form rockers?

On mine I just held the rocker in one hand and tried to move the roller on its axle up and down in the same direction as it operates. I felt a lot of play and IMHO if you can feel any play in something that small, it's too much. I had adjuster issues also with mine. They used cup style adjusters so after about 3 sets of "improved" ones from the Mfg'r I sprung for a set of Comps from Summit.

Kevin

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Thanks, everybody.

Andy, all I can find from Smith Bros online are pushrods. Nothing else.

I'm not having luck finding the adjusters from MP either.

How can I tell if a roller is going bad? This is really scaring me. Apparently the only American-made rocker arms out there are the Harland Sharp wallet-busters. And as if they weren't far enough beyond my budget, I'd have to get longer valves, too!

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be gearheads...

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why would you need longer valves ?

CALL smith bros ...