should the valve pushrods look like this ?

[jethro]

Tonight taking apart the rocker arms and then pulling the pushrods in prep. for new gasket and head studs.
Everything getting cleaned, bagged and tagged as I go.
Pulled out the intake pushrod on #1 cly (front)
Noticed immediately a funky looking "step" about 3/8 inch from the top. The "step" actually looks like a
wrinkle. (or a crack maybe)

It appears that the piece which forms the concave hemispherical socket (top end) was pushed down into the end of the tube
which forms the tubular body of the rod. It [i]appears[i] that the part which was forced in was a cylinder (with a socket on top) and as it was forced in it stretched the tube in doing so. It appears that the wrinkle I am seeing could be the lower edge of the cylinder or a bulge associated with its insertion. All of the pushrods show this defect..... on most it is a wrinkle (or crack) which goes about 1/2 or 2/3 around the rod..... and it wanders up or down a bit on most of them. A few have the ring
/wrinkle being uniform all the way around the rod-
It all most has the appearance that as they were pushing the upper ends in- the inner part did not stay perfectly centered as it was stretching the tube to make its way down- making more of a step on one side than the opposite side (corresponding to the bottom end of the cylinder inside the tube)

WOW- if this had been an aircraft engine- and I saw something messed up like that- the tings would be trashed immediately
and I would be looking for bigger problems !

I have to look at each of these under the microscope tomorrow to see if any of these are cracks...... but they ALL look like
artifacts which you would expect to turn into cracks eventually.........

Do yall remember seeing this on normal pushrods ? OR- are the stock pushrods junk and everybody replaces them with
an aftermarket one of better quality ???????

I note that none are bent, and all look good on the contact faces- smooth and highly polished.....

the lower ends don't show the strange defect the tops do- just a dark line about where the lower inside cylinder might be
ending -

I hope yall can tell me if I need new pushrods while It is easy to put them in !

Tim

[KTA]

What no picture? The stock pushrods are fine for most anything and I have seen engines run over 1500hp with them. I have also seen them get as you described from piston to valve contact. Improper cam timing, or an aftermarket cam, or even valve springs or guides that will not allow the lift of the cam can cause the pushrods to deform like you are talking about.

[DMan1198]

The ones on the left are new Hamilton 12v pushrods. Having a picture of yours would help

[jethro]

Yes- I opened a dropbox account but could never get it to work for pictures here.
I will see if I can do the other one which have instructions on one of the stickys-

The upper ends DO look like they have been under a compressive load ..........
Once I get the head off I will be able to see if there have been marks in the piston tops-
Could the valves have been stuck in the guides long ago from sitting and not running-
then someone started it with the valves not wanting to move ?
Hope the pistons aren't beat up! I can feel about 1/4 of space that I can move the
valves down until they touch the piston tops (at TDC) - so at least THAT isn't a problem

I will work on that picture.....

Tim

[jethro]

OK- here is a try at posting a pic ------

Valve pushrod- top end-

[img]http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j341/vampsqu/cp1_0103052043_zpsaf06a5fe.jpg][/img]

No picture showing here yet--- what am I doing incorrect ?

http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j341/vampsqu/cp1_0103052043_zpsaf06a5fe.jpg

[CumminsPower59]

Looks just fine to me.

[jethro]

its all beat up and compressed on the end- the little dark line is a wrinkle in the tube-
its a little blurry-

[CumminsPower59]

its all beat up and compressed on the end- the little dark line is a wrinkle in the tube-
its a little blurry-

Its probably just fine dude.

If you could get a clearer picture, that would help a bit.

[Philip]

When trying to post from photo bucket. Use the link under the

IMG

code.

[jethro]

Do you mean the "IMG" button on the 1-st gen page or the IMG on the photobucket page ?
Just too many choices on photobucket - too many different buttons.....

Im charging my camera battery up to get a clear picture. Older phone took the one you see-
just not enough resolution to see the fine details I wanted to show !

tim

does anyone know the stock overall length ? (so I can see if they have shortened- )

[jethro]

picture test- in photobucket- clicked "share" option in the upper right corner of pic-
then clicked the tape associated with the "IMG" option -

[img][IMG]http://i1081.photobucket.com/albums/j341/vampsqu/1101042234_zps7fb24c52.jpg[/img][/img]

Pasted in between the brackets of the "IMG" button here on this page......

OK- that gave me a clickable link but not displaying the pic - which part is incorrect ?
( the sticky on posting pics seemed way too vague for me to understand )

Tim

[DMan1198]

It's the bottom link of the 4, and I just copy that into the reply box without doing anything else

[jethro]

test- again !





OK - I just copied it into the test field - nothing else- YEAAAAAAAA IT WORKED !!!!!!

OK here are the tops of the pushrods in better resolution-



Where the tube meets the insert- something looks like it is squeezing out- like solder-
or- it could be the edge of the tube ripping as the insert was driven down (possibly) further-
It looks like a little saw edge all the way round the joint.....

[DMan1198]

Hooray. There you go

[CumminsPower59]

OK here are the tops of the pushrods in better resolution-



Where the tube meets the insert- something looks like it is squeezing out- like solder-
or- it could be the edge of the tube ripping as the insert was driven down (possibly) further-
It looks like a little saw edge all the way round the joint.....

From what you have pictured, those are right as rain. 100% functional.