Rocker Shafts

-

oldkimmer

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
24,116
Reaction score
8,335
Location
Kindersley, Saskatchewan,
Are banana groove shafts necessary if I run aluminum roller rockers with needle bearings? Can c a guy use factory hydraulic shafts. Thanks. Kim
 
Are banana groove shafts necessary if I run aluminum roller rockers with needle bearings? Can c a guy use factory hydraulic shafts. Thanks. Kim
I think the nanner grooves are more for the original 273 rockers or for bushed rockers. It seems to me that the regular oiling holes in the shafts would be enough for needle bearings.
 
And there you have it. But John, do they need to have nanner grooves?

No sir. Roller bearing and banana grooves are not a good mix. The rollers roll on a smooth hard shaft. Banana grooves are for 273 and bushed rockers to assist spreading the oil and preventing wear.
 
Last edited:
No sir. Roller bearing and banana grooves are a good mix. The rollers roll on a smooth hard shaft. Banana grooves are for 273 and bushed rockers to assist spreading the oil and preventing wear.
Otay. Cool. Learn sumffin new everyday. Thank you kindly.
 
If you don’t use hard chromed shafts it will fail very quickly. When that happens it makes a pretty big mess.
Yup, I've seen them chew into stock shafts before. I forgot about the hardened shafts too.
 
Banana grooved shafts even if hardened will tear up the needle bearings. The shaft acts as an inner race you would not want the needles to be running over the grooves. The oil will spread through the bearing they do not need surface spread oiling as a solid bushed or steel rocker.
 
Banana grooved shafts even if hardened will tear up the needle bearings. The shaft acts as an inner race you would not want the needles to be running over the grooves. The oil will spread through the bearing they do not need surface spread oiling as a solid bushed or steel rocker.
That was my thought, but I'm not gonna argue about it. Thanks.
 
Bushed rockers = good.
Needle rockers = bad.
Rockers are not spinning or have equal loading top/bottom, mostly bottom of the rocker.
Bushings easily set for clearance/load.
 
^^^^ Well how do stud mount roller rockers work? They have needle rollers that run on a fixed shaft [ trunnion ], just like needle rollers on a Mopar fixed shaft. Also, the same bottom loading occurs whether it is needle rollers or bushing.
 
^^^^ Well how do stud mount roller rockers work? They have needle rollers that run on a fixed shaft [ trunnion ], just like needle rollers on a Mopar fixed shaft. Also, the same bottom loading occurs whether it is needle rollers or bushing.
Not all of them. Some have the "half balls" like the Comp steel roller rockers.
 
Needles only have loads on a miniscule contact point on the needle edge, bushing is full contact across the bushing face.,
Like difference between a 10 speed bicycle tire and a car tire's contact patch in the sand.
 
^^^^ Well how do stud mount roller rockers work? They have needle rollers that run on a fixed shaft [ trunnion ], just like needle rollers on a Mopar fixed shaft. Also, the same bottom loading occurs whether it is needle rollers or bushing.
I have ruined several sets of hard chromed rocker shafts by using needle bearing rocker arms even with a high volume oil pump and 70 PSI oil pressure. However I do use fairly strong valve springs with 500 lbs of open pressure.

I switched to bushed rocker arms and have had no trouble since.

Nevertheless, it is a very good question about how stud mounted roller rockers work and survive. I look forward to hearing the answer from others.
 
Careful How? Not to Deep?
Not to Wide?
Not to Nanner???
See if @prorac1 will chime in. He and his son did some. He posted pictures on here somewhere. They did a nice job. Maybe an inch long at the very most centered over the oiling holes and not too terribly deep. Just deep enough for the oil to spread out. Eric, post the link to what you and Jason did. I got him on Facebook, too. I'll send him a message.
 
Pretty much not to wide, or deep. You don’t want to let the groove go outside the confines of the rocker body or you will lose your oil pressure for oiling the rocker.

Th deep is an obvious problem cause you’d put a hole in the shaft.

But this is what we did. I just used an angle grinder and a steady hand if I remember correctly.

Hope this helps. Prorac1
C961F35E-6917-41E7-BF42-65B5F659931E.jpeg
 
Pretty much not to wide, or deep. You don’t want to let the groove go outside the confines of the rocker body or you will lose your oil pressure for oiling the rocker.

Th deep is an obvious problem cause you’d put a hole in the shaft.

But this is what we did. I just used an angle grinder and a steady hand if I remember correctly.

Hope this helps. Prorac1
View attachment 1716064431
That's just beeyootiful.
 
Minnesota,

The answer to your question in post #18 about the 'survival' of stud mount roller rockers is answered quite simply by the millions that have been in use for decades, & continue to be used, very reliably. Compatible metals have to used for reliability, not used with rocker arms.
 
-
Back
Top