Why are my rocker arms so loose?

[Gabe Paterson]

Just finished putting back together my ram 1500 just replaced cam/lifters, pushrods, cylinder heads and respectable components. Basically everything on upper half of engine other than rocker arms. Now while engine is running I noticed that there is an inconsistent ticking noise coming from cylinder heads, took off valve covers and 3 of 4 intake rockers are crazy loose and have an unacceptable amount of play on the side I took off. Positive it is not cam or lifters as I just replaced as well as valve seats or springs because they are also new (confirmed by cranking engine and getting full open and close on all 8 valves). Checked pushrods were not bent before installing. Torqued all 5 rocker arm bolts to the proper spec when putting it all back together. Couldn't find any info on this issue after searching the internet to the best of my ability. Coming here because I am officially stumped

 

[Longhorn1500]

I cannot help, but welcome to the forum from your neighbor to the South!! I'm sure someone will chime in to help you out.

 

[Gabe Paterson]

Thanks man, never used a forum before but eager to see if this works like I said I am kinda stuck so any help is awesome. Will Definitely be on more often if this helps my problem

 

[ChevySlayer69]

I *think there are spacers and maybe u lost a few

 

[James OBrien]

so, what I'm assuming probably happened is when you tightened down the rocker arms, there were probably valves or something partially open putting pressure on the rockers, and they didn't quite get torqued down enough so when the engine rotated you had some slack in the valve train. What I normally do is tighten down everything then rotate the engine by hand quite a few revs and then re-check the rockers. There are no spacers as I recall between the rocker arm shafts and the curved mount on the heads. Does the truck actually run OK? Seems like it'd be running pretty rough. If the truck is running good, make sure to re-torque them down, and DOUBLE CHECK the torque values, I think it's something like 16-20 foot pounds. You may have dodged a bullet if none of the pushrods bent and everything is working normal!

 

[Daw14]

Was the heads resurfaced

 

[Gabe Paterson]

There weren’t any spacers on the rocker arms the heads weren’t resurfaced but I also didn’t rotate the crank and retorque when putting them back on. I will try that today but it seems the play is not between the rocker arm and the mounting points on the cylinder head and instead just really loose where the top of the pushrod is supposed to keep contact with the rocker for that Specific valve. This has happened on 3 of the intake valves on the one side I took off, the last valve on that side is still performing with no issues. The truck was running alright but had a slight tick that would come and go all the time it was never consistently in one spot but would sometimes change from one side of the engine to the other. Other than the slight inconsistent tick the truck ran and had no noticeable decrease in power and no engine codes

 

[James OBrien]

Interesting... Are the pushrods the right size? Dumb question, but maybe compare old/new and make sure they match up?

 

[Gabe Paterson]

Funny story actually when I originally ordered the parts for the rebuild I was doing. I ordered both intake and exhaust pushrods but when my package arrived I received boxes with different part numbers for each intake and exhaust side but the exact same pushrod in both boxes and on my truck I know for a fact that intake pushrods are ~6.93 inches while the exaust ones are ~8.01 inches if I recall correctly. so when I recived my parts I measured them and all of the intake pushrods were too long. I went to a local parts store to get replacement one that are the right size which I then measured to be certain I had the right ones. So I’m fairly sure this isn’t the issue. Also it wouldn’t make sense that one of the valves had proper figment and the others on that rocker arm did not as they were all measured and came from the same box at the store. I will try to figure out how to upload a video of the rocker arms but I’m not sure I will be able to post it here

 

[Gabe Paterson]

First picture shows lateral play between rocker and top of valve,
Second picture shows horizontal play in rocker arm assembly
Third picture shows how there is not play between entire rocker arm assembly and cylinder head.

 

[James OBrien]

Wow, pretty consistent on the gaps, the only thing I can think of is rocker arms being different size. Definitely not normal, unless maybe the lifters are not fully pumping up/wrong? Really strange.

 

[Gabe Paterson]

I don’t think the lifters are the problem because I have turned the engine over and get full movement on all valves just ticks from all of the excessive play. I don’t think that it is the wrong size rocker arm as I never replaced it. The truck was having similar ticking issues before but it was also from a wiped cam lobe or two so it was more difficult to hear. The rocker arms are the only valvetrain component that is not brand new so I think I may just purchase one new one and see if Just replacing it will fix the problem. After putting a new one in it would be very evident if the problem was solved or not. I don’t really want to purchase all of them without knowing if it will fix the problem and I am not needing the vehicle to be functioning as of now. if Replacing one rocker arm fixes the problem then I would most likely go ahead and replace the others just to be safe. Do you think that is a viable plan of would you have a better idea?

 

[Gabe Paterson]

Looking online it is approximately $120 to purchase which is not to bad but I wouldn’t want to spend that 4 times and not have the problem resolved, rather spend 120 and test if it fixes problem.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Were any of the valve seats replaced, or valves replaced, did they resurface any of the valve stems, how many miles on the engine and is the oil pressure good, put a mechanical gauge on it to make sure.

 

[Wild one]

Just finished putting back together my ram 1500 just replaced cam/lifters, pushrods, cylinder heads and respectable components. Basically everything on upper half of engine other than rocker arms. Now while engine is running I noticed that there is an inconsistent ticking noise coming from cylinder heads, took off valve covers and 3 of 4 intake rockers are crazy loose and have an unacceptable amount of play on the side I took off. Positive it is not cam or lifters as I just replaced as well as valve seats or springs because they are also new (confirmed by cranking engine and getting full open and close on all 8 valves). Checked pushrods were not bent before installing. Torqued all 5 rocker arm bolts to the proper spec when putting it all back together. Couldn't find any info on this issue after searching the internet to the best of my ability. Coming here because I am officially stumped

Read through Kurtis's excellent thread if you haven't,and see if you missed something.

https://www.ramforum.com/threads/how-to-4th-gen-hemi-cam-installation.82531/

 

[Gabe Paterson]

Read through entire other thread did very similar process but didn’t miss anything. Heads are brand new so shouldn’t have any replaced valve seats or resurfaced valve stems, where would you put a mechanical oil pressure gauge and why would lack of oil pressure cause me to experience the problem I am having? Engine has 272,000kms but new cam, lifters, Cylinder heads, pushrods, gaskets for everything replaced, and all new hardware where needed

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

If you don't have good oil pressure the lifters are going to have a hard time pumping up and holding pressure to operate, that might explain why there is so much movement on the rockers, I would like to see what a mechanical gauge shows for pressure on engine idle, I also think you should do a leak down test to see if the valves are seating and piston wear, did you do a compression test before you started? Hay I'm just trying to help.

 

[Gabe Paterson]

Sorry if my message sounded rude I was just curious how low oil pressure would affect this part of the valvetrain. I’m very thankful for you giving me your time to try and determine this problem I am having. As for oil pressure my dash gauge was showing good pressure at idle and before starting this project I did a compression test on all cylinders and if I remember correctly they were all right around 155-160psi. thanks again for all the help.

 

[Tach_tech]

How long did you let it run for? New lifters can sometimes take awhile to purge all the air out.

 

[Gabe Paterson]

I have probably ran the truck for around 45 minutes wether that be idling or driving low speeds around the block. I also soaked the lifters in oil before installing them as I heard that this would somewhat help with purging air from the lifters. I did this soak for around 6 hours before installing.