I heard people say that these are a ***** to adjust and after installing them, I can see why. Theres hardly any room under the rocker to get to the locknut and adjust. My question is why cant you adjust these by installing them so that the adjustment is in the valley and just tighten till slop is taken up and then another 1/2 turn and then bolt everything up. You wouldn't have any more ajustment than that if you used stock ones so........ What do you think? Sure would make it quick and easy. I'm right there so if anyone knows why you couldn't or shouldn't please post ASAP!!!!
Maybe good for the first time, but what about after you got it all put back together in the car and running? Later on, I doubt you will want to pull the intake off, etc. just to adjust push rods.
I was wondering on those, mine has stockers, The desoto is such a *******, because even the Red Ram had some adjustable rocker motors, because of it's industrial use, but not desoto.
Righ there! That would be a TON of h***le just for some minor adjustments, when needed. They're not GREAT, but they're not THAT bad. How often are you having to adjust your valves??
Looking at the pushrods, the exhaust valves are easy to adjust and the intakes are do'able but a bit tough. I will adjust them accordingly. As far as re'adjusting your hydraulic valves, you should only have to adjust them once and be good as when you buy a factory car, you never adjust them unless they are solids. Thats why you use hydraulics, to take the slack up when parts have a normal wear. Anyway, it looks like I will take the initial hard way since Id be screwed in the future to replace valve seals, springs, etc if I had to without tearing the whole top off. It was just one of those thoughts that looked easy to do and rightfully could be done but........ Thanks for helping me set my mind into think more about it.
I don't believe i would use adjustable pushrods with hydralic lifters. if i found the stock pushrods were not the correct lenth for my combination of stuff, I'd find what was the correct lenth and have Smith Bros. or somebody make me pushrods the correct lenth. They don't cost all that much.
They are alot easier with help. Bend a 3/8" wrench about 45 degrees tp get under the intake rocker. Have a friend hold a wrench on the nut lowest on the pushros and with his other hand, hold onto the feeler guage. Then you can work the other 2 nuts much easier. I nearly put my back out the last time I did an adjustment while the motor was in the car. This time we did it while on the engine stand and it was much easier and took about half the time. We set them just a little tight so we shouldn't have to go back later and do it again. Bill
i guess I dont understand why you wouldn't use them . Been running adjustable pushrods on Harleys for years before the evo engines and most people yank the stock Evo non ajustables out and install adjustables for better lash. So same goes with the Hemi. With adjustables you dont need to guess at preload for each lifter. Im running a custom ground cam with a smaller base circle and higher lift than stock and am using the more modern mopar LA lifters. Oh and if you didn't know, the Desoto Hemi I have has no adjustment on the rocker or any other place unlike small block, big block Chevs, fords mopars etc. These all have adjustable valve trains with hydraulic lifters which the 1952 Hemi didn't
Im using adajustable push rods on my 354 . You have to go with some type of adjustable (trains or rods ) when you change the stock cam grind . You have to have correct geometry . Yes i also bent a 3/8 wrench to make life easier .
I guess your right. I made one adjustable push rod (Not for a Hemi) to get my geometry correct and sent it to Smith Bros. Now my reground cam and non OEM lifters are happy just like most new cars with hydralic lifters. First OHV V8 I ever had (49 Olds) came that way and worked fine. Had some Chryslers that worked that way and worked fine. Why have adjustments you don't need?
I'm using adjustables on the current build with hydraulic lifters. I decided to retain them because I have plans for a head change in the future on this motor. I definitely agree that with hydraulic lifters you shouldn't NEED adjustable pushrods if you have the right length to begin with. However, I agree they don't hurt anything either. They're basically fixed once you get them to the correct length.
Hot Heads sell special tools for this. These tools have been around since 1953 that I know about. get you a set, they are cheap
This is a moog point as I already have the pushrods and if I understand you, cost is the only factor why you wouldn't use them since once they are set you shouldn't have to readjust them. This was why I was going to just put the pushrods in upside down so that the adjustments were in the valley for easy access for the initial adjustments. As far as cost, its about $30 different plus the time to custom make the initial one and mail it away and then get the small tipped Desoto hemi pushrod custom made to your initial one. Also having adjustments can help for high rpms as a 1/4 turn preload will rev higher than 3/4 turn preload without valve float.
Since the reason you change to adjustable rods there must be a change in geometry. The thing you have to check is rod clearence to the lifter so the rod does not rub on the head access to the lifter. I had to clearence the whole with a 1/2 inch bit for clearence. Best done on a mill with heads off engine.
When I set my Desoto 330 up for pushrods I will use one adj pushrod to determine the correct length with about a .030" plunge into the juice roller lifter with everything ***embled and torqued to spec. I will then have the pushrods made or locate an appropriate set of tubular thick wall pushrods (Comp Cams) with the correct length using the test sample adj pushrod. They will need to suit the lifter cup at one end and match the Hemi rockers at the other for a good fit. That way I can do away with a full set of adjustable lifters. At least, thats my plan. Rat
Should have done that with mine. I got a set of new hydralic lifters for mine only to find that the original pushrods were now too short due to the reduction of base circle diameter. This happened to me once before after buying an Erson cam. Turns out they were using used cores on some of their milder grinds. Took awhile to figure out why the valves rattled. Even now with adjustable pushrods, the adjustment is out quite a bit. Next time will order pushrod length only after measuring base circle against a stock cam. Bill
Now somebody's just bragging when they drag something like that out for a show & tell !!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at those rockers. Too bad they have to go under a rocker cover. Buddy
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