Charley and Gang,

When I assembled my heads after getting them back from JM,I had a set of the original Dove roller rockers that were not offset like the new ones are now.I talked to Rocker Arm Specialists about this problem and ended up sending my rockers to them and having the same thing done that Gary did and had the "banana grooves" cut in my shafts and roller rockers. I had Jerry Christenson make me aluminum spacers to replace the springs and that all has been over 4 years ago and everything is still as perfect as when it was new. I recently adjusted my valve train and gave it a good inspection and see no wear on my pushrods or adjusters. Maybe you just got a bad batch that wasn't hardened to specs. You should take it up with Dove, as I don't think Jim would want any bad press on his rockers. 

Bud in Northern Arizona on route 66 in Winslow (standin' on the corner)

If you're American, buy American

631/2 Galaxie 500XL 406   55 T-Bird

IMHO Roller rockers were designed for strip use and not daily drivers. First of all the only benifits are that a roller gives an infinite number of contact points verses the same contact point on a stock arm, and they may be lighter but how much benifit will you get out of that on the street? (how many miles did the stock arms go before wearing out?)

The down side, Chancing inferior hardened adjusting screws, rollers or roller shafts. More moving components to fail and wear out. as the rollers and shafts wear there are more clearance issues to deal with. Hydraulic rollers never leave the surface so there is no pounding, Solids however have clearance, this is hammering on a screw in aluminum threads! can the the threads handle the thousands of hammerings per minute X the thousands of miles driven on a street engine?

Down the drag strip for a weekend and then check everything out and replace as needed OK, but for a daily dependable driver, not in my engine, The stock have proven themselves many times over.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

Billy,I agree completely.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

There are a few other benefits to higher ratio roller rockers. There is less side loading of the valve and the increased ratio provides and increase in lift and duration at the valve. A possible negative effect, due to the ratio, is that the pushrod, lifter, and cam see a little more pressure.

I know there are others who run these on street vehicles but I do not know how those vehicles are really used. I can't technically call my truck a daily driver since I have 2 vehicles and I try to use them about equally so 50/50 is probably pretty accurate. If I can't track the problem down, then I may very well switch back to the stock rockers. However, if it is a problem with the rockers, I'm baffled as to why it happens only on the driver side head.


Lawrenceville, GA

The benefits I've gotten from my 1.6 roller rockers is a tighter lash with less noise, better fuel economy 24mpg versus 21mpg and the upper end keeps pulling stronger as the rpms increase ( seat of the pants feel ) and yes it will pull the wheels off the ground taking off and it is my daily driver 56 tbird that I will not drive in the snow or take out if it's raining. The original 1.54s were good and I still have them in case my rollers went bad but after over 100,000 miles and many years of use I really can't complain but I am using the ones from rocker arm speciality. The early doves did give me some problems in the oiling dept. I don't know if they were monkeyed with before I got them or not, they came from a canada dealer. Jerry Christersan told me about gary at rocker arm specialty and he's very good to work with and can do about anything you want. The lash I'm running is .015 and with the beehive springs I can keep the spring pressure down to approx 105 lbs on hte seat and 260 over the nose which is more than enough to push over 6000 rpms. I am speaking only of my experience with roller rockers.

-Gary Burnette-

I can't I misspelled believe Christenson. That's what I get trying to beat the clock and not get kicked out on my thread before it's finished.

-Gary Burnette-

1.6 - 1.54 = 060" which is a significant amount at the valve. however (Charlie) any lift over .500 at the valve and the guides need to be machined down, you are not bottoming out are you? That would have a serious impact on the ball.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

Just another thought, Maybe the valve seats sit higher up on that side head and you are bottoming out. the other side head the seats may be cut slightly deeper so you are not bottoming that side?

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

That is something worth checking. I wouldn't suspect that sort of problem because my heads were done by a very reputable person. If I was bottoming out, I expect I would have found much more evidence, sooner, and perhaps repeated problems with the same pushrod but that has not been the case. But you know what they say about assuming.

I have a pretty mild cam. It's .457" at the valve. So I shouldn't be having interference problems.

Man, it looks like it's going to rain again.


Lawrenceville, GA

Charlie: I don't know, but Mummert's Cam Ads indicate that lift of .450" is the limit for stock length guides. So you could be having some interference.. Worth a check.

Paul