so I am finally going to get around to replacing all my rocker arms.

ordered all the parts that everyone said was needed....so I have two complete rocker arm assemblies which consist of the long base that has 8 bolts to accomidate 4 rocker units per side. a rocker unit has a base the bolts to the long unit , the plastic clips, the bearings, the rocker arms, etc.

I also have new push rods, new fuel lines, and orings which I guess are for the injectors.

the parts assume that the rockers will be replaced as an assembly .

So to avoid removing all the fuel lines, why can't I just replace just the rocker units which consist of the small base that holds the bearing, plastic clip, and rocker arms. I do not think there is any value in removing and replacing the long base unit that all 4 sets of rocker arm units bolt to.

so the question...can I just replace the rocker arms...with out having to remove and replace fuel lines?
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actually started the prep work two weeks ago (break body bushing bolts loose, test body lift jacks, etc).

today I pulled the drivers side valve cover which had indications of being the worst of the two sides.

found all the tips worn down to bear metal. also found 1 rocker arm on the bottom of the valve body area. so that means there is a rocker arm ball somewhere in the engine.


so the main indications to cuase me to order a full set of rocker arms and all the associate one time use lines is the infamous intake deep tone thomp. the thomp is non metalic sounding . metalic sounding valve train noises would be indications of a lifter and possibly a worn down cam lobe.

there was plenty of oil within the vavle cover cavity and no sludge.

so this is what happens when you buy a 6.4 with 84K miles and 3000hrs of engine run time. probally exseccive idle time.

my approach to this is to take my time. plan on doing rocker arms on both sides of engine . I am debating on pulling injectors and looking for problems....

I also need to drop the trans mission to check my flex plate which I think has the infamous c crack.

so far no special tools. a complete 400 dollar tool set, a pair of body screw plyiers and a body screw screw driver and a two foot broom stick was all that I used so far. and a set of 4 jacks that are jacks and jack stands.

you need to lift the body 2 inches on the drivers side to get the valve cover off. fuel cooler had to come off as well as the elbo that connects the 1st and 2nd turbo. both batteries, degaus bottle and I pulled both wheel well liners so I could get to the engine drom the sides. dont forget to remove the bolt on the steering drive shaft so that the shaft can extend as the body goes up.

on the pax side, which I will start next saturday, probally 6 inches on the body lift to get to all the bolts.

I bought a new set of stock rocker arms as well as a set of stage 1 after market rocker arms. The stock ones have a ball on each end which I think helps with oil pressure..but they are thinner and prone to bending. the aftermarket ones are moly chrome and thicker...but they do not have the ball on each end. so I am debating which I want to go with. the stock ones last 87k miles and may just got with the new stock set. still debating.

 

........man...........good luck. Please be careful don't want the body falling and chopping your arm off or something horrible like that. Small consolation that you were in fact dead on with your diagnosis but sounds like the carnage is indicating you pretty much nailed it.

 

when i jack up the body body it's one side at a time. To keep the body from dropping I use 3 prices of 2x4 cut to 4" square . I stack them in between the body bushing and the frame.

the thump thump thump wa the give away. That's a worn rocket tip sound .

a metallic drive train noise is either a lifter or a cam love.

 

so both sides of the engine are down to valve cover off. on a 2010 f-450 you need to break loose all body bushings.....back out all body bushings to the las few threads....front bolts need to come out as well as the under drivers side. steering link, and a whole bunch of hoses and mechanical plates, both battery boxes, air filter system, fuel cooler, turbo elbo. you need to jack up the front so you can get a 1 inch piece of wood on top of the body bushing cap on both the front sides. side wheel well covers on both front sides.

not an afternoon job and you need to take your time.

so, drivers side rockers are out, so are the push rods. 1 intake rocker was broken and laying on the bottom of the valve area.

I did fiind the ball.

2 additional intake tips were worn to the metal

all exhaust tips were fine.

but I will be replacing all rockers as an assembly. you might get tempted to use the existing rocker base...but it looks like they changed the geometry of the rockers so theres a chance the base is slighlty different.

1 push rod was slightly s shaped....deflection probally 1/64th ...easy to see if you roll the rocker on a table saw cast top or glass plate.

6 push rods were bowed about 1/64th of an inch....you have to look carefully while rolling to see these

1 push rod was fine.

intrestingly....the bottom copper ***** on the push rods were still cooper after 87K mikes...so me thinks this engine has had the rods replaced before. the prior instll my have not followed the torque proceedure since almost all rods on drivers side are bent.

thw saddles were all fine....but I ordered new so they are getting replaced. the saddle for the worst rocker tip had wear marks off center and part of the wear hole was off the saddle....so this could be why the rocker broke.


I did notice on the new rocker base and the old one...the bolt holes for the base to heads are very large which could result in a lot of axial defelction of the rocker base...not sure if this is a good thing to allow install flexibility or a problem. so basically the ends of the rocker base can get installed 1/8 or more off on each end.

Im putting in new riverside push rods. these are stage II. they do not have the ball ends. other brands have a stage III. these stage designations just means thicker.

Im going to dismantle the pax side now and see what I find.

I might wait til next weekend to reassemble....got my son in from california and need to spend some time with him.

 

so pax side

7 pushrods bent at least 1/16 of an inch
all rods had cooper coating on one end
all saddles were fine
2 intake rocker arms worn to the metal, but not quite touching metal
the other intake were worn, but no where near the metal
all exhaust were worn, but no where near the metal

so it looks like the broken rocker arm and worn rocker arm tip problem is an intake valve train problem.

worth noting, before I took this apart I was wondering how the end of the vavle stem inside the saddle got oil and was going to send the new ones out for drilling.....but all saddle holes had oil in them in spite of there being no oil holes.

on the pax side, all rocker arms, pushrods, saddles are being replaced.

assemble next weekend, maybe...its getting cold in nyc.

 

Moved to the 6.4L forum.