I found metal shavings coming out the sides of my roller rockers tonight. There was a smidge of shavings where the red arrow is pointing. You can see the picture is dated to they aren't that old.

I think visible metal shavings coming out of any engine part is bad but wanted to know what you guys know. What would cause this? I change my oil every ~2000 miles or so. Or when I get board which is usually before then.

...or am I being paranoid? arg

 

Arghhh, Cap'n...

There's metal comin' out of those rockers? They be ProForm or Crane Golds, do they? I might wanna Davey Jones the lot of them an' get a raidin' party together so we can pillage the girls at Comp Cams for some of them forged steel ones. Aye, matey - those won't be doin' that to ya...

 

LOL @ Vader.

 

hahahaha....

Yes I would rather have the Comp steel rockers. Being broke sucks...lemme tell ya...

yup these are the Crane Gold SA rockers.

Is this a "do not drive until solved" problem? Or do I just need to clean them up? I took the #5 cyl rockers off and the bearing spins freely with no grinding noises.

 

Sell them while they still spin and buy some chromemoly ones from comp cams

 

yeah sell them on ebay under "turbo boost actuator" or something like that. put them in a kit with some duct tape and a few nylon ties. some fool will buy them

 

Umm, that doesnt sound good. I've got the same rockers on my motor. I wasn't real pleased that they were aluminum, but a lot of people seemed to be running them without a problem. Is this metal shaving thing a common problem with them? Should I pull my valve covers and check? How many miles do you have on them? I've only got about 1000 now, so hopefully they will be fine for a while.

 

comp rockers are stronger and lighter. aluminum will fatigue over time and fail, there's no way around that, it's a properity of the material. as much i like some other cam makers (lunati) products i use comp rockers.

i think it's be good to sell them before the do fail and put the money towards comp steel rockers.

 

Cap,

All joking aside, chances are the outer races of the needle bearings are beginning to flake off some of the aluminum around the trunion areas. They aren't going to fix themselves. I understand that a lot of people run the aluminum rockers successfully, but simply by the material structure, steel is by far superior in that higher stress application.

Ed is right (as usual). The Comp forged CrMo steel rockers are actually slightly heavier overall, but by clever design, the mass of the metal that reciprocates on every valve cycle is significantly less than Crane or ProForm aluminum rockers. Most of the material is centered around the trunion, so it moves very little. Fortunately, that's where most of the rocker strength is needed, so you get the best of both worlds. A far more rigid, accurate, and compliant rocker, and less reciprocating mass.

As for your current situation, until you can do something about it, keep changing the oil religiously. If the rockers are still servicable when you find your way to a new set, sell them if you can. Don't misrepresent them - just advertise them as "take-offs" in usable condition.

 

I agree with all of the above. The only thing to watch out for is your valve covers... the Comp rockers are bigger across the trunnion, and some valve covers won't fit down between them.

I have no way of knowing this for sure, but I suspect that in case the GM engineers who picked the rockers for the HOT cam kit had the vaguest clue about what they were doing (and after seeing the springs they chose, I'm not so sure about that), they probably would not have picked aluminum rockers. Their decision matrix probably had "Does it fit stock valve covers in the intended applications? Yes/No" as one of the first criteria in their "decision tree", which would have eliminated the far superior Comp product right off the bat.

 

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The only thing to watch out for is your valve covers... the Comp rockers are bigger across the trunnion, and some valve covers won't fit down between them.

Exactly. That's why I ended up with Crane Golds. I have to use a NSA rocker, and they have to clear stock valve covers because apparently there are some issues with taller valve covers and superrams. And I wasn't real big on the idea of hogging out the supports in the stock covers. So I went with the aluminum ones for lack of any better option. I know aluminum fatigues, but seeing this is... disturbing.

 

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You can see the picture is dated to they aren't that old.

Hey AstroMan, about how many miles do you think they have on them? Since Feb?

 

Hey, Z. I just noticed you are in "Haward, CA". Is that supposed to be "Hayward"? I've got a place in Hayward, too, but not the one in California. You probably don't get many snowmobilers in your "Hayward"....

 

I think I put about 5-7k miles on it since Feb. Not alot anyway. I'm also an oil changing psyco. You know, the kinda guy who once he can't remember the exact date that the oil was changed last he changes it again...that's me.

I soaked them in oil for 3 days before I installed them so I can't think of anything that would cause this except crappy material.

I hate to be the bringer of bad news. I'd keep an eye on them and make sure they don't barf like mine did.

I found that the #3 cyl rockers were lunched so bad that they were making the ticking noise.

I bought them thru AutoZone where I used to work. My old manager who I was cool with returned them for me, even tho they had no AutoZone warranty. I put that money towards the Comp Pro-Magnums (1302-16). I'll be running stock rockers until I put my new heads on, which have guide plates and perimeter bolt valve covers to accomodate the big body rocker.

thanks all

 

I know a girl that lives in Hayward, CA. I guess we've got some evidence of aluminum rocker arms not lasting as well as steel now. How long before they started doing this?

 

I wouldn't say it was a problem with it being an aluminum rocker tho. The aluminum part was just fine. It was all the steel parts that were focked up....

I have no idea why they would've gone bad tho. My engine sees 5000 rpm MAYBE once a week....prolly less than that. That combined with my little cam and relatively light valve springs (comp 981's 105#) they had no reason to wear out so fast.

 

Hayward Sconi..... . What happened to Fav-reeeee on Sunday ......

 

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Hey, Z. I just noticed you are in "Haward, CA". Is that supposed to be "Hayward"?

Aw jeez... I musta been tired when I typed that... It's fixed now. I'm actually not there yet, more like, in transit... from KS to CA.

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I know a girl that lives in Hayward, CA. I

Now you know two. Where in cali are you? I needa find the local fbody guys out there.

 

I go to school with her. I'm actually a few hundred miles south

 

Now wooo hold on. I know of 2 instances with those rockers.

one person, my friend Aaron, has Crane Gold aluminum (extruded) race rockers. they were expensive and looked nice.

Hes currently using them on his 383 Stroker making well over 600 Horses, uses AFR220CC heads with triples for springs and spins to 7,400 RPMS regularly. the rockers have yet to show signs of wear.

Now a second instance was with the same exact rockers... BUT
The person who BUILT THE engine didnt set up his rocker geometry correctly, and it didnt match the valve spring retainer size (weird huh) and they would always TICK TICK TICK.
He surmised it was because of his solid cam...
WRONG.
The rocker, due to having the wrong geometry for his valvetrain, was actually banging itself onto the valve springs retainer, and the metal would shave off and work its way out. it left neat little gashes in the rocker. all of them.


It did this in less than 1000 miles... Check your rockers for little scrapes or gashes underneatch and all around.Edit: the little gashes look like they were MADE like that from the factory. they arnt made like that, the metal should be smooth and un-broken. If my digi-camera worked i could show you the pics. I have them, sitting around. (the rockers)

 

i think the comp rockers come in a narrower version now for centerbolt covers, if you are using stock outer bolt covers regular comp's will fit, i needed to squeeze the baffles some and get the good steel core double cork felpro gaskets.

 

King, I measured all the clearances with a feeler gauge as the directions said.

I think if these rockers would bind on 1.25" valve springs and a cam with the max lift of .451" they wouldn't be good for much.

 

I wouldn't run that eng at all without replacing them.

My cly head guy told me he once had a set of roller rockers start spitting out needle bearings.
The skinny little bearings fit thru the oil screen and destroyed his oil pump.

Can you tell by looking if any bearings are missing?

 

now u know a cali boi cept im a little boi im only 17 but i got a 3rd gen all about the 925 code