need valve train help/better roller rockers ?

winstoninwisc said

The Harland sharps are a needle bearing fulcrum , and the hughes are not and dave at hiughes has rite ups and is telling me , on needle bearing fulcroms being a problem spot , being a weak spot on the bottom taking so much pressure that the bearings tend to break right under the shaft at the holddown . Is this a SALES PITCH or a real problem ??

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Just based on what I have gathered, the hardness of the shafts and needles is important for needle bearing rockers. If the shafts are not hard enough, the needles will dig in and it all fails rather quickly. But, they have been used for along time, so someone makes them right! We will be checking our PRW AL rocker shafts at a few hundred miles and again after a couple of thousand miles to try to catch any developing surface hardness problems.

Of course, the Crane Gold rockers seem to have a good reputation all around, and are needle bearings for the stud types and non-needle for the shaft types, so that says (to me) that either works if done right.

BTW, Crane does make rocker repair adjusters for the LA rockers; it has the 5/16" ball tip but a 7/16"-20 tip adjuster thread so you can open up the adjuster hole and put these larger thread adjusters in. PN is 66770AS-16; p 322 in their catalog. Not sure if you could use these on your present rockers or not.