Got the heads off, finally. I have a question about play in the rockers.

I noticed on the drivers side all but one rocker arm had a little wiggle to it. On the passenger side two rockers had a little wiggle but all others were snug with zero movement. When I say "wiggle" read very minor movement.

What does this tell me?

Not bad after 184,000 miles. Shell Rotella for the win!

 

Pull the rockers back toward the springs to see how the shafts look where the rockers sit. Both shaft and rockers are probably pretty worn if you have enough slack to really feel. How many miles you got?

 

About 184,00 miles.

I know you typed "pull", but do you mean "Slide" the rockers over on the shaft or "Pull" the rockers forward so it rotates on the shaft and compress' the valve spring?

 

Did you mean play between the rocker and the shaft?

Slide the rocker on the shaft toward the spring on the shaft to look for wear on the shaft where the rockers ride... on the shaft.

The shafts are steel and the rockers are aluminum but, if they are pretty worn you can probably see it on the shaft.

you can pull/slide the spring on the shaft back that holds the rocker in place and see how much play you have without the spring (on shaft) pushing against it.

see if after you move the rockers over onto an unused part of the shaft if they feel any tighter with less play.

Probably easiest to check that with the rocker assy's off of the engine.

 

Roger that.

But they shouldn't budge at all while still bolted to the head, correct? I sense the movement towards the pushrod end of the rocker arm.

Are these things really 4 Hundo a side? Ouch.

 

Well if the rocker assy's are still bolted down and the heads bolted down with the lifters still pumped up then not going to be much way to get a good look at them.

I think you can buy those from UK for alot less then here.... still not cheap. Someone on here found them really cheap once but, I don't remember who or where. I do remember the vendor was from UK.

First see how they look and feel.

If your engine is getting on up in miles and yours turn out to be too worn to use, you may be able to find some lower mileage and better complete used rocker assy's for cheap....cause if you need any you probably need all and the shaft.

Not good to put new rockers on the old shaft or a new shaft and old rockers.

 

X2 on the recommendation to replace the rockers and shafts together. The aluminum rockers will get steel particles embedded in them which in turn waste the shaft.

 

i would replace the rockers and shafts together as well

 

If you do determine that you need to replace the rocker assy's and don't want to spend big $ on new ones, try paul grant or abran to see if they have the complete assy's from a truck with lower mileage that are in decent shape.
The complete used assy's go for cheap on ebay but, on ebay, unless you know the seller, it's hit and miss.
If you buy from paul or abran you'll know who you are buying from and they could probably get you a set that still has alot of miles left in them for a fair price.

 

Thanks for the recommendation
Ricketytick!

I'm getting ready to pull apart a 4.6 with 112k, but I won't be done for at least a week.

It's my lowest mileage motor I have at the moment(except for my pristine GEMS 4.0 with only 89k that I am hoarding!)