Reply With QuoteAllow me to tell you a little secret. Around 75% of all of the aluminum rocker arms are made by one company. There are many different names, colors, and a few different sizes , but it is all the same thing. In fact, you could call that company and have your name put on them if you order however many sets. So when you hear brand differences, remember, many of the brands are just different colors.
Another secret. If you are running aluminum rockers, be prepared to have them break. It is just the way it goes. Yeah, they are nice, yeah they are cheap, yeah they make good performance, but they do break. It may take years to do so, but they break. Much is Dependant on the temperatures, warming rituals, time, heating/cooling cycles, spring pressure and rpms. But they will break. I break jesels like clockwork. I think everyone that runs them does. We just know about when they break and change them out. But even then. . . Good maintenance schedules help. When you are putting new pistons, rods, er whatever into the engine for a freshen- buy brand new ones. It is much cheaper than the risk. I know there are guys on here that have run them for an eternity. But that is usually the exceptions and not the general rule. In my opinion, buy a no name brand that looks just like the brand name before buying a well used set at the swap meet. It is like buying used aluminum rods. They look great but you can't know the history.
Or if you want to get new ones that will outlast the engine- go get a set of the crower stainless deals. They are the best of the bunch by a fair margin. The comps are O.K. and the Cat are rough but decent. The stainless rockers will outlast the aluminum ones.
Sorry to hear about the loss of a good engine. Any time you hear something not quite right, pull the valve covers. The majority of the failures will be seen there. Catch the problem before it becomes a catastrophe. (Easier said than done, but even caught one time is better than the alternative.)
