Proform push rod problems

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19blockhead72

19blockhead72

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Anyone else have issues? I have a mild cam, j-head, 408 with 273 rockers. When I did the rockers I needed cup and ball push rods and bought a pack of harden Proform from Summit. So put a few hundred miles on them and started hearing a little tap tap so pulled the left side cover. I found that one of the cups was wearing away rapidly so I had to buy another pack of 16 just to replace this faulty one. A few weeks ago started noticing a tap tap one the right side. Pulled the cover for inspection and found one that the ball crumbled and fell apart. I found all the big material and the lifter seemed ok.
I've lost all faith in the rods, anybody have any suggestions in a different brand that you have had good luck with. My cam is small, .480 lift, so maybe even stockers would do. Thanks
 
Check your rocker arm. it may have a but that is causing the pushrod to wear. I had this happen in a set of Crane, eat a rod in no time.

I have had good luck with Smith Bros. Smith Brothers Pushrods
Just an idea, good luck
 
Make sure the pushrod cup is getting oil. There is a hole drilled through the adjuster boss to the inside of the rocker arm. I have had used 273 rockers were those holes were partial to totally blocked with crud. Make sure the holes are clear and the adjuster screw and inside threads are clean of crud.

Also for the adjustable 273 rockers they oil the pushrod cups better if you use the shafts that have the banana groves and a second oiling hole that lines up with the hole for the pushrod cup oiling. Shafts designed for the stock stamped hydraulic rocker arms have one large oiling holes on the bottom and do not have this secondary oiling hole and you risk getting less to the pushrod. See pictures of the stock 273 shafts with the two holes.

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Rocket said:
Make sure the pushrod cup is getting oil. There is a hole drilled through the adjuster boss to the inside of the rocker arm. I have had used 273 rockers were those holes were partial to totally blocked with crud. Make sure the holes are clear and the adjuster screw and inside threads are clean of crud.

Also for the adjustable 273 rockers they oil the pushrod cups better if you use the shafts that have the banana groves and a second oiling hole that lines up with the hole for the pushrod cup oiling. Shafts designed for the stock stamped hydraulic rocker arms have one large oiling holes on the bottom and do not have this secondary oiling hole and you risk getting less to the pushrod. See pictures of the stock 273 shafts with the two holes.

View attachment 1715145339 View attachment 1715145340 View attachment 1715145341
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This is one of the few times I did my homework. The rocker holes are clean and I used new banana groved shafts from I think Hughes. I think that maybe the cup could have been an oiling issue or a rough adjuster but the ball on the other was definitely a manufacturer defect.
 
Side note: Don would have made them for me in 2 hrs if I wanted to wait or come back later in the day.
 
You can always run the engine with one cover off to see if oil is reaching the pushrod cup.
If the pushrods are light in color, do you see any bluing from excess heat?
 
Manton, Smith Bros, Howard's all make them to size. And you can buy one at a time. Smith pushrods start at about $8.00 each... and they will repair them if possible. You can have a new cup installed...

Throw those catalogs away and save some money...
 
Rocket said:
You can always run the engine with one cover off to see if oil is reaching the pushrod cup.
If the pushrods are light in color, do you see any bluing from excess heat?
Click to expand...
Everything is oiling good, I have done this already. The cup end I can see being other issues but the ball end falling apart concerns me more. If I knew that it was just the one and do I would feel better.
 
my68barracuda said:
you should contact Summitt, if you still have the failed pushrod, Summitt is typically good to work with.
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Exactly, contact Summit. Regardless of what they do for replacement/refund, they’ll know there could be a problem with those pushrods. And that could help keep this from happening to someone else.
 
..............I paid $15.50 per push rod from Smith Brothers in July, then got hosed on the shipping and over a week to get them made........I wont ever deal with them again...................kim..........
 
oldkimmer said:
..............I paid $15.50 per push rod from Smith Brothers in July, then got hosed on the shipping and over a week to get them made........I wont ever deal with them again...................kim..........
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Geez did you call them? They've made the last 3 or 4 sets of pushrods I've had done. Their customer service, shipping, pushrods were awesome. I think the last set was about a year ago, maybe a little more. Hopefully they didn't make some kind of business change. Otherwise I'd have to write it off as a fluke, crap does happen.
 
Yes, I called them. I’ll have to look up the guys name I dealt with. Eric, I think. Told me 2 days. I sent them the pushrod and an adjuster so they could make an exact copy. they got it on a Thursday morning, didnt start to make them till the next Wednesday. Somehow they got shipped to Kentucky first instead of ND. They also didn’t ship right away either.I will add that they Had my credit card number from the first day I talked to them. I have 4 threads showing on their adjusters. He said that the threads are prolly cut lower on the adjuster. Not to worry. Never offered to help me no way no how. I guess because I’m in Canada that they know we’re not gonna send anything back for all the hassle. I will never deal with them again. They charged 50 bucks to ship to NDwben the actuall cost was much less. Kim
 
oldkimmer said:
Yes, I called them. I’ll have to look up the guys name I dealt with. Eric, I think. Told me 2 days. I sent them the pushrod and an adjuster so they could make an exact copy. they got it on a Thursday morning, didnt start to make them till the next Wednesday. Somehow they got shipped to Kentucky first instead of ND. They also didn’t ship right away either.I will add that they Had my credit card number from the first day I talked to them. I have 4 threads showing on their adjusters. He said that the threads are prolly cut lower on the adjuster. Not to worry. Never offered to help me no way no how. I guess because I’m in Canada that they know we’re not gonna send anything back for all the hassle. I will never deal with them again. They charged 50 bucks to ship to NDwben the actuall cost was much less. Kim
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Huh. Don’t really know what to tell you, that sucks.

I’ve never had to ship them anything. I use a checker, I give them the measurements over the phone. I’ve had them ship as fast as the next day, and usually it only take a couple days to get here but I’m in California. Everything has always fit perfect, exactly as I ordered it. Last time I called them I just gave them the previous order number, told them I wanted the same thing with a different length, whole call took ten minutes and I had the pushrods at the end of the week. They’re honestly one of the best companies I’ve dealt with.

If they actually treat Canadian buyers different that’s terrible, but I think you’re reading into that. But there’s a reason so many companies won’t even ship to Canada from the US. It sucks. It costs a fortune, it takes forever, and it’s a pain every single time. Can’t blame them for the postal service screw up either. I bought a welding helmet last month out of San Jose. It went to the port of Los Angeles before it came back to Sacramento. It was less than two hours away and it took a week because it traveled the whole state. Not the sellers fault, crappy as that was, that’s all on the usps.
 
They shipped the push rods to Dunseith North Dakota where my sister picked them up so that shouldn’t of been a hassle. He did say he would check into it and get back to me right away. Never happened. Kim
 
if I read your post right its the same valve pushrod failing ?I would look for another problem
 
howdy,
I built my 318 with 273 rocker gear. the factory pushrods were too long as I zero decked the block and used alloy heads, I'm running an xe268 cam also (just under .500" lift).
I found that the Toyota Corolla KE70 with the 4K 1.3L motor uses the same type ball/cup pushrod as a 273, only shorter. I've put 2000 miles on my motor and they work great. I guess what I am saying is these are a factory pushrod and you wont have to worry about quality issues. Cost me less than $10 for a set too
 
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