That sucks!!!  I understand about wanting to change brands but will Dove make it right?  What are the details when it happened?....6500 rpm grabbing gears or idling in the driveway?  Let us know.

Do I see some dark metal at the bottom of the lower picture? That would seem to indicate a crack that was there for a while. They need to fix these before any more Y-Blockers suffer this type of failure. Eventually someone will lose an engine to this. As you say this type of failure is unacceptable. How many of these have failed you and other Y's guys? I'm sure I wont buy any from them! Chuck in NH

best regards

stuey 

Well i had them on my 312 when they 1st came out years back and was chewing up adjuster balls on some, i dont know if it was the p/rod cups or soft adjusters, Ted revised the oiling by grinding diagonal oiling grooves on the shafts, some of the users had no problems so not sure where to aim the gun. I,m am reluctant to run them on new engine but am thinking on it a bit more.

Are you sure this is off your truck and not a spare engine you had just kicking around? whereas its close to Columbus time, you wouldn't be looking for an excuse would you?

charlie, i,m guessingf you,ve had a long carefull look at the other rockers for any signs of fatigue?

Is this one that has had a ball or pushrod problem before? if so it could have jammed and started a slight crack before that was un-noticable and after running some time since, finally failed from fatigue.

I think it's time to give up on the Dove's and try rocker arm specialist.  I can't find anything I've done wrong to cause the repeated failures.  I just don't trust these anymore.

It's just oil.

It's a drop of oil.

Ted,

The wheel is still loose and turns smoothly on the axle.  I've examined these things to death because of previous issues.  If there's something wrong I'm just not experienced enough to spot it.  Everything you mention I've checked previously and is fine according to the best of my understanding.

How much is a set of harland sharp rockers and are they available as assemblies?  I looked at the website a couple days ago.  They're not in the catalog yet.

Charlie.  I’ve run the Dove roller rockers well over thirty years now in a variety of applications and that’s the first one I’ve seen snapped off at the roller tip like that.  Although I’ll not rule out a simple failure due to material fatigue, be sure to check for underlying causes.  Although the break you have is what I’d call a ‘no load induced failure’, it would be prudent to look for anything out of the ordinary in the valve train area.  This would include examining the underside of the rockers for any retainer to rocker clearance, double checking for spring coil bind, damper bind, retainer seal clearance, and inadequate shaft to rocker clearance to name few.  I’m assuming the roller wheel is still loose on the axle?  If not and the roller wheel is seized to the axle, then that could have been the root cause for the failure.

Other than issues with the adjuster studs on the Dove rockers, I’ve had only minor issues regarding shaft to rocker arm clearances.  The Dove roller rockers for the Y that I have been using have been repeatedly pulled to 7200 rpms without problems.  My altered roadster engine has used them since 2001 and both of my EMC engine entries used them.  The 2009 EMC entry had over 410 pounds over the nose pressure in order to go 7500 rpms and there were zero issues anywhere in the valve train.  But I still adhere to the rule that once aluminum rocker arms hit the 10 year old mark, I replace them.  It’s after that point that aluminum fatigue issues do start to crop up.  Years of FE experience with those rockers has set that rule.

I will be talking to Dove this week though and I’ll bring up your broken tip scenario and see what they say in regards to if there’s been a problem with roller tip pins loosening up or other issues that could be related to this.  The fact that your rocker tip is broken on its underside and not the top side eliminates quite a few possibilities and makes rocker failure itself high on the list.

Rocker Arm Specialist is just now coming back up to speed after some internal management issues over the last year so Y rockers on their end should be available again.  Harland Sharp is also making Y roller tipped rocker arm combinations for both the iron and aluminum heads so that’s another option.

Charlie.  The Harland Sharp rockers are not available as ready to go assemblies.  Up to now, I’ve been honing the individual rockers for the shaft to rocker arm fit but the guys at Custom Speed are working on addressing that so they are more easily installed by anyone.

I’ll have a better feel on current pricing when the four sets that are currently ordered arrive within the next week or so.  Pricing has been running about $125 a set higher than the Doves prior to this.

It’s a given that most of the aluminum rockers are used in low mileage or race orientated performance vehicles.  But I’ve been involved with several FE’s with 50K+ street driven miles on the aluminum shaft mounted rockers that have ran without issue and these are engines that get run hard when being driven.  As far as wear at the shaft goes in a street driven application, gut feel says that the aluminum on steel would wear out very quickly but that hasn’t proved to be the case either.  As long as oil is adequate at the shafts, wear is minimal although still more than what you’d see with iron rockers.  I’ll add that fatigue with any aluminum rocker arm is still a problem after a given number of years but in your case I’d rule that out as yours are not quite that old yet.  Your particular break is unique in that the tip area is broken out on the bottom side where it’s being stressed in the opposite direction.

With all that’s happened in your case in regards to valve train issues, this looks to actually be your first instance of a failure with the rocker arm body itself.  I recall you having some rocker adjuster issues in the past as well as pushrod problems but nothing up till now regarding the rocker arm body.

I’m assuming this was a right offset rocker?  If so, then just give me a shout and I’ll get another heading your way.  If this works for you, then I would like to have your broken rocker so I can examine it more closely.