Well, I've finally got the proper rocker arm studs ARP# 134-7104 for my 195 heads. After looking up the torque specs on AFR's site it turns out they have this little blurb in the instructions.
Also, another pushrod decided it didn't need it's press in tip anymore this past weekend so I decided to take care of a couple problems in one shot. Ordered up 1 piece pushrods and the ARP rocker studs. Here's some images for comparison.

New ARP stud on left, stock AFR on right.


ARP left, AFR right

 

Yeah, I played around with different rockers on my AFR heads, too. I ran out of time to mess around so I put a cheap set of stamped steel units with roller tips on. They fit BEUTIFUL on the AFRs, by the way, even though they're not the best rockers in the world. Rocker geometry is perfect.

Let me guess..... you also needed to use longer pushrods to keep the rocker arm from scraping on the radius at the bottom of the rocker studs, right? And as soon as you did that you ran out of threads on top of the AFR stud for the poly-lock to grab onto, right?

If so, been there, done that! At lease I had a similar situation with a set of fat no-name aluminum roller rockers. Sounds like what you're going through.

 

The pushrods are 7.95's and most of them (another broke last year) have been in the engine since it was built Nov '03, same with the rockers. Ran out of threads? nope but it wasn't optimal only using half the threads, that has been fixed now with the longer rocker studs AFR and others have recommended on here. Just finally got around to doing the longer studs so nothing does happen like I've read, you know, studs snapping off lol. I've put off doing this for probably 2 years

 

That's nice that they put it in their instructions now. It wasn't there when I did mine a few years ago (at least I don't remember seeing it ). Replaced with the same ARP studs you have now and now worries.

-Schultzy

 

I never realized this till you started this thread. Im using the same rockers and never knew that wasnt normal for the screw to be sunk in that deep. Im using Topline heads so thanks for the heads up.

 

7.95? .150 over stock? That's about where I landed, too (8.00) with the big fat aluminum roller rockers.

I didn't mean that you couldn't grab a thread at all with the supplied studs, I meant what you were talking about- not enough threads that you felt real good about it lasting very long. Grabbing 3-4 threads at the very top of the stud doesn't fill me with confidence, either.

Shaggy- the lock should be about even with the top of the adjusting nut. That way you are grabbing a big handfull of threads on the stud but also giving the lock nut as many threads as possible to hold onto the adjusting nut. EvilCartman got it exactly right with the longer studs.

 

I'm doing the same thing with my Dart Pro One 200cc heads. I have installed the longer rocker arm studs like you did to make sure I have enough thread for the locking nut. Be sure the intake studs are not sticking to far down into your intake track. I milled .020" off of mine. I have the Comp Cams Pro Mag 1.6RR with 7/16" studs. Looks like you also have the 7/16" studs. Doing this with the engine on the stand before it goes into the car.

 

I'm really glad I found this thread, I've been suffering through the stud-nightmare for a week now, but the new studs are on thir way. A word to the wise: Skip White Performance is worthless, NO HELP with this issue, four phone calls and they were unable to straighten it out, and I bought the entire top end from them, including rocker arms. Thanks for your post, this is what this site is all about!!!!!

 

Hey Chevyboy, I too bought my rr's from Skip White. I got their knockoff version of the Comp Pro Mags. They look just like the ones in the pic here. I'll have to look into getting a set of those longer studs too because my set screws in the locknuts look just like the one on the right in the picture. I'm using GM screw-in studs on a set of 083 heads right now. However, I just bought a set of AFR 190's from Paul Ricciolli, so I'll be using those heads instead. He said he already put ARP studs on them, but I don't know if they're standard length or the longer ones. I'm betting they're probably standard length. Either way, I'm going to write down that part# for the longer studs in case I do have to order a set. Thanks for the info Cartman. I'm also thinking ordering a pushrod length checking tool might not be a bad idea either.

 

I'm going with a set of the ZZ24 aluminum fast burn heads, and they have screw in studs from the factory. They use a guided rocker arm, and if I go to roller rockers it's a lot more money for the guided ones than the non guided. I'm thinking I'll go with guide plates and hardened pushrods. So it's nice to know about these studs. Thanks for sharing the info with us.

 

Glad to see this thread come back up and help someone

 

Hey Alloy, the self-aligning roller rockers aren't much more expensive than the standard ones if you know where to look. CNC motorsports has the narrow-bodied, self-aligning ones for almost the same price as the standard ones in your choice of 1.5 or 1.6 ratio. They're only $158.95 in either ratio. Here's a link: http://www.cnc-motorsports.com/category.asp?CtgID=14982

 

This is my daily so I'll go with steel rockers and not aluminum. But I did see their house brand stainless rockers there for around $170 in the self aligning style.

Has anyone used their rockers in a street application with extended use?

 

I went with the full roller, stainless ones for the same reason as you. I'm also after durability since my car is my daily driver too. I bought mine from Skip White Performance. They have an Ebay store. They were a bit cheaper than CNC Motorsports. I think I paid about $135 IIRC, and that included the poly-locks too. I'm pretty sure they have them in self-aligning too. They don't always list everything in their store, so if you don't see them, you'll probably have to call and ask about them. I wish I could give you a testimonial as to how good the quality is, but I haven't run the new motor yet. Physically, they appear to be really nice though. The price for Comp's Pro Mags is enough to make me choke, so I figured I'll give the ones from Skip White a shot. I wouldn't scrimp on something as important as valve springs, but a rocker arm failure usually isn't too catastrophic, so I'll gamble a bit.

 

Is this an issue on other heads also? Or just AFRs?

 

Could be any head. You don't want just a few threads holding done the poly lock. One it could strip and two it will flex more causing some loss of lift.

 

The head actually doesn't matter. The issue is with the rocker arm assembly. Since new studs are required with the Comp Pro-mag rockers, it is a good time to upgrade to 7/16" studs for greater strength.

RBob.

 

I'll be ordering my heads in a couple weeks. Already planned on upgrading to 7/16th studs. Also planning on Pro Mag Rockers, so I'm glad I found this thread. So when I call AFR I'll see if they have the extended 7/16ths studs.

 

Is this a problem with 7/16 studs too?Or just the 3/8th's.

 

I'm pretty sure it would be an issue with either, because they are "standard length". You would want extended studs to prevent this problem.

 

On the 3/8" studs, the standard length stud has .800 inch of thread for the rocker nut. The extra length ones have 1.00 inch of thread for the rocker nut. You'll need to measure how much thread there is on your 7/16 studs to see if it's going to be a problem or not. Either that, or just look at the set screw in your poly lock when everything is put together, and see how far down the set screw is in the nut. If it looks like the one on the right in the pic on this thread, then you'll probably want to get longer ones. I checked on Summit's website, and it looks like there's several different lengths of 7/16" studs available too.

 

You have a PM about the Skip White RRs.

 

Thanks guys!! There's only .8 inch of thread.Soooo, it looks like I need new studs(Summit part # ARP-100-7101 is 7/8ths with an inch of rocker thread). You just saved me from a big headache. I was putting my RR on Saturday.
Glad I saw this post.

 

The part you want is #134-7104. The 134-7101's are the ones that only have .800 of rocker thread. The 7104's are a full inch. I also noticed some of the 7/16" studs listed on Summit are even shorter than the 7101's. I saw one set that only had .700 of rocker thread.

 

ATTENTION

I emailed AFR about this.

So if your getting ready to buy new heads or use heads that are less than a year old, you should not have this problem.

 

Wish I could edit the first post to add on your new info.

 

Just an update on my patriot heads, the skip white house brand rocker arm style WOULD NOT work with my heads. I ordered three sets of studs before I ended up putting stamped roller tip arms on the car.

 

Hey Ya'll - just my two cents on this rocker arm stud length deal - THIS is the number you need :

Summit sells P/N ARP-100-7101 Price - $ 31.95

Rocker arm nut thread length - 1.000"

Effective stud length - 1.900"

Base thread length - 0.750"

7/16" top and 7/16" bottom

" The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing....
If you can fake that, you've got it made. "
Groucho Marx

 

I am fighting the same problem with these heads and rocker. checking my pushrod lengths, i notice the roller tip was only making contact with half of the vavle stem. Did the stamped rocker fix this problem.

 

Most small block heads use 3/8" on the top half of the stud, unless they've been upgraded to the larger ones. ARP-134-7104 is the correct, longer stud for most small block heads.