Broken harland sharp adjuster?

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oliver

oliver

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Was driving to work when i felt the 340 go down a cylinder and at a stop light i could really hear it tapping away. At first i thought one of the solid roller lifters took a massive dump but when i pulled the valve cover i found:

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harland sharp wants around 50 bucks for 4 adjusters.... sheesh. I haven't ordered it yet but probably will. What do you think caused this failure? Also i couldn't find the rest of the adjuster. I hope it made it all the way to the bottom of the pan.
 
I had the same problem several years ago with Harland Sharp rockers, it was said to be a bad run of adjusters(brittle) and they sent me an entire set for free, no more issues. I hope this was from an older set of rockers, i'd hate to think they were having an issue again, they're my favorite rockers.
 
How much of th adjuster is out of the BOTTOM of the rocker arm? I don't use anything with needle bearings on a reciprocating shaft so I won't use HS. That said, HS must use an extremely short adjuster or you have the pushrods too short.

If the adjuster is that short, I would replace them all with longer ones so the correct amount of adjuster is out of the bottom and there is more out of the top. Smith bros has very good adjusters.
 
73AbodEE said:
Wow, they should be sending you a couple for free
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I don't think thats an option for me, never did they mention that on the phone.

mr.twister said:
I had the same problem several years ago with Harland Sharp rockers, it was said to be a bad run of adjusters(brittle) and they sent me an entire set for free, no more issues. I hope this was from an older set of rockers, i'd hate to think they were having an issue again, they're my favorite rockers.
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I'll call them again and ask if my set qualifies. It is an older set.


yellow rose said:
How much of th adjuster is out of the BOTTOM of the rocker arm? I don't use anything with needle bearings on a reciprocating shaft so I won't use HS. That said, HS must use an extremely short adjuster or you have the pushrods too short.

If the adjuster is that short, I would replace them all with longer ones so the correct amount of adjuster is out of the bottom and there is more out of the top. Smith bros has very good adjusters.
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There is 1-2 threads out the bottom, the adjusters are pretty short but the body's are also quite think and have lots of thread engagement.
 
YellowRose has made a good observation. It is not the number of threads out of the bottom (which is OK), or the thread engagement in the body of the rocker, but the fact that the allen wrench 'socket' extends down all the way through the area where the lock nut clamps tight. This means that all the of the holding tension of the locknut is working through an area where the bolt is hollow, and thus weaker. The max tensile stress on the bolt is at the point where the bottom of the locknut meets the top surface of the rocker, and that is right where it broke.

I'll agree with YR's recommendation of a longer adjuster to move the allen head socket up above where the locknut's threads engage the bolt. Otherwise, you may have this again. IMHO, an adjuster with a shallow flat blade slot in the top would be stronger here than an allen socket type.

FWIW, I would be pulling the intake and looking for the parts.
 
Needle rollers on a shaft mount aside. I'm surprised harland isn't standing behind their product more. Unless you've been abusing that engine. I don't think that part should fail in that way. I would talk to them again. And advise them that if they aren't willing to work with you. That you're more than willing to swap all the rockers out for their competition who stands behind their product. Remember guys, when you vote with your dollars, companies listen.
 
nm9stheham said:
YellowRose has made a good observation. It is not the number of threads out of the bottom (which is OK), or the thread engagement in the body of the rocker, but the fact that the allen wrench 'socket' extends down all the way through the area where the lock nut clamps tight. This means that all the of the holding tension of the locknut is working through an area where the bolt is hollow, and thus weaker. The max tensile stress on the bolt is at the point where the bottom of the locknut meets the top surface of the rocker, and that is right where it broke.

I'll agree with YR's recommendation of a longer adjuster to move the allen head socket up above where the locknut's threads engage the bolt. Otherwise, you may have this again. IMHO, an adjuster with a shallow flat blade slot in the top would be stronger here than an allen socket type.

FWIW, I would be pulling the intake and looking for the parts.
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I see what you mean, weird it didn't bust at the fillet since that's the stress riser. I'll have to find replacement adjusters or run the set of comp pro magnums. I'll stick the camera into the valley to see if its there.

j par said:
I wouldn't start that motor without finding that piece.
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well, i drove the sucker a good 10-12 miles after that. so its either stuck in the valley or its in the pan.

Lustle said:
Needle rollers on a shaft mount aside. I'm surprised harland isn't standing behind their product more. Unless you've been abusing that engine. I don't think that part should fail in that way. I would talk to them again. And advise them that if they aren't willing to work with you. That you're more than willing to swap all the rockers out for their competition who stands behind their product. Remember guys, when you vote with your dollars, companies listen.
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This is a pretty old set of rockers, they were never abused, heck this engine hasn't seen over 6700 rpm's and it was built for 7500 shifts. I actually didn't ask them for free parts, i just asked them if the adjusters were available. I'll give em a call on monday, if that doesn't work out then the comp pro mags go on.
 
Old as in milage? Or old as in years?

Either way. Better now than in the middle of summer! Or a pass down the track!
 
When my new motor eat my dipstick I'm not sure how many passes at the strip I had taken til I discovered it. I can tell you I wasn't going to start it again til I found it all..
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nm9stheham said:
but the fact that the allen wrench 'socket' extends down all the way through the area where the lock nut clamps tight. This means that all the of the holding tension of the locknut is working through an area where the bolt is hollow, and thus weaker. The max tensile stress on the bolt is at the point where the bottom of the locknut meets the top surface of the rocker, and that is right where it broke.

FWIW, I would be pulling the intake and looking for the parts.
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I respectfully disagree with the cause of the break.

I suggest all the stress of the "lift" is taken and transfered to the rocker long before it gets to the jamb nut. I suggest the jamb nut is merely that, and is only meant to stop rotational motion of the adjuster, and preload the adjuster threads.

I do agree that the "hollow" goes deeper than it should, and weakens the adjuster to where, if the jamb nut is over-tightened the recommended 20 lb/ft, would tend to stress the adjuster, and break where it did, allowing the adjuster to back-off.

I also agree a slot would be preferable.

I would be scrutinizing/replacing the other adjusters if I was uncertain, or if it was possible the jamb nuts were over-torqued.

PS.. After re-reading your post, I guess we're saying the same thing.
 
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Yeah, and I knew that the 'lift load does not go to the jam nut. It is just the locknut clamping force that goes through there... one would not think it was much but it was enough. The idea of brittle or weak adjuster material has merit in this case, IMHO.
 
Thats pretty common with the older harland's. I had a couple do that, i believe i bought replacements from smith brothers. The new adjusters harlands sell are supposed to be fixed as well.
 
Look at exactly where the adjuster broke. Right under the locking nut, at the bottom of the hex.

Just like I said, the adjuster is too short. If anyone believes the load stops at the bottom of the rocker you would be wrong.

HS should replace ALL of those short adjusters but since there is no such thing as warranty in the high performance world (never has been, never will be) they won't replace them.

FWIW I have seen some very big name stuff have failures with fasteners breaking where you'd think they wouldn't. The loads though the faster all end up at the weakest point. And then fail. That's what happened here.
 
My money's on it was overtorqued. It broke from the stress of the adjuster nut. Not running/pushrod stress.
 
Scampin said:
Thats pretty common with the older harland's. I had a couple do that, i believe i bought replacements from smith brothers. The new adjusters harlands sell are supposed to be fixed as well.
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After some research it seems that i have a batch of the bad adjusters

moper said:
My money's on it was overtorqued. It broke from the stress of the adjuster nut. Not running/pushrod stress.
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Doubtful, unless i had a brain fart. Pretty hard to go over 20-25lb ft with a 6 inch 9/16th wrench.
 
my 35 year old Harland Sharps, still rockin. how does Harland Sharp know it was not overtorqued?
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Marcohotrod said:
my 35 year old Harland Sharps, still rockin. how does Harland Sharp know it was not overtorqued?
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did you not notice the difference in our adjusters? according to a bunch of people, for a few years harland sharp changed the adjuster to my style and many people were having the exact issue i had.
 
oliver said:
Doubtful, unless i had a brain fart. Pretty hard to go over 20-25lb ft with a 6 inch 9/16th wrench.
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I generally use a little longer double box end wrench to adjust valves, to help break the jamb nut free, they're pretty tuff sometimes, then use the same wrench to tighten.

You know what, I took your challenge and went down to my shop, set my T/wrench to 20 and set it in the vice.

It was very, very easy to crack that T/wrench at 20 lb/ft with little effort.. I was quite amazed, and I use a T/Wrench regularly.

Ferd SB rod bolts are 24 lb/ft, I was always amazed how little pressure it took to trip the T/wrench..

I bet you work out.. lol . . ;-)
 
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Marcohotrod said:
my 35 year old Harland Sharps, still rockin. how does Harland Sharp know it was not overtorqued?View attachment 1714934504
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The top of the nut is above the CUT for the screwdriver and shows exactly why I'm saying. When you tighen the nut, you are STRETCHING the adjuster. And the only threads that have torque load on them are the top one or two. Now beat on the adjuster with the pushrod and ALL the load ends up at the nut. And that's where it broke. The OP's OE HS adjusters are crapola. He's luckily they didn't break sooner.
 
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