is my rocker aligned right?

[mrspacemonkey]

It all started when I saw a leak on the back of my valve cover. (I ended up stripping the intake and exhaust manifold from a different leak... but that's another story) When I took off the cover to replace the gasket I noticed two rockers which looked to be off a bit. They are not loose to the touch. I don't recall any other noise or power issues before now. This is getting me into unknown territory.... Is this something I should be concerned about?

 

[CJ]

Looks like the rocker pivot is shot, maybe the rocker arm also. You might run for years with the arm off center but may have a problem in a day. I say pull the arms, inspect the pivots ant see what is up? (there could be other problems but lets start here).

 

[mrspacemonkey]

I thought this could be old or new, either way was afraid of long term wearing. Earlier today I ordered new pivots and arms just in case. They weren't in stock so I have to wait until Monday. I assume its as easy as backing the bolts out, removing the bridge, pivots and arms? These are not under any pressure that I should be worried about are they?

 

[IOPort51]

tighten them evenly , you don't want to distort the bridge. I am thinking that's what happened. the rockers were tightened unevenly and bent the bridge.

check the push rods for bent and or broken??

 

[mrspacemonkey]

I took the one off and looks like the bridge is bent. (This was made worse by trying to break lose the bolts) The arms and pivots look fine. I took a closer look at the other one and it definitely looks like the bridge is twisted.

Question: If I replace the bent ones, do I go ahead and replace the others too? What about the pivots and arms. They look fine, but don't want to do this twice.

 

[Jimbos76cj]

Ive seen these bend when trying to loosen them. May actually have a few bent ones in my shop right now. They are cheap enough to replace. I would also pull out the push rods and roll them on a flat surface with a light at the other end to check them to see if they are bent.

 

[mrspacemonkey]

Thanks everyone. Saved me some sleepless nights! Decided to go ahead and replace all bridges, pivots and arms to be safe.

Will also use Jimbos76cj's tip on checking the push rods.