TR2/3/3A re-bush the rockers

[sp53]

I am going to re-bush the rockers and was wondering about agood way to remover the old bushing. I pounded one out with a socket and used atap on another with some pounding. Any suggestions?

 

[CJD]

The bushings are very thin. I would think you need a drift with a relatively square edge. All my sockets have a radius on the edge, and I would think that the rounded edge would tend to peen the bushing tighter in the bore. For the same reason, I would think a tap would also expand the bushings and tighten them in the bore.

Perhaps a cheapo chinese deep socket that you don't mind grinding to make it square?

I assume you are buying the bushings from the big three? I would like to hear how they are with fit and finish. If you have any trouble, I have a stack of mildly worn rockers you are welcome to...

 

[Darrell_Walker]

Just an FYI, the new bushings will need to be reamed to fit the shaft after installing them.

 

[sp53]

Yes John that is exactly what happened and thank you foryour offer. I might take you up on it, but I am not sure what way I am goingyet. They do offer them new at a fair price, but again I am always suspect of themetal aftermarket parts are made of. I noticed like you how the shafts wear outso much faster compared to the apparent soft bushing? I am probably going with thesofter shaft because I do not understand this wear factor and the original stuffdid last for many miles without apparent harm to the overall engine mechanics. Itsounds like you were able to pull together enough rockers to make an acceptableshaft or did you purchase new.

 

[titanic]

I think the reason the original bushings wear the shaft is that they are steel with a thin layer of bronze or other bearing material. After the bearing material is worn away, it is steel against steel. It seems that a solid bronze bushing would be a better alternative. Find a friend with a lathe to make a driver to remove&install new bushings. I believe there is a vendor that specializes in hard chroming the old shaft, grinding it to size, rebushing the rockers, and honing to fit.
Berry

 

[charleyf]

I realize that you may wish to do all of this yourself. One alternative is that there is ( or recently was) a rocker shaft rebuilding service located in Redding/Anderson, Ca. I walked in a few years ago and plopped down a box of three rockers, in which I wanted to have two rebuilt. The guy behind the counter looked at me and immediately ask, " are these for a TR3 or 4?" It just about blew me away that this guy would be able to identify a rocker from a car that is 50 years old. I believe that they are the main source of rocker rebuilds used by many across the country. If you are interested I will look up the name and information on them.
Charley

 

[titanic]

Hi Charley. These are the guys under a new name- https://www.rockerarms.com/pages/about.html
Berry

 

[Darrell_Walker]

Hi Charley. These are the guys under a new name- https://www.rockerarms.com/pages/about.html
Berry

I recently had my TR8 assemblies rebuilt, and they did a great job, other than getting one of the shaft orientations wrong.

Not sure if this is the case on the TR2-4, but on the TR8, the alloy rockers wear the hard steel shafts because worn bits of other metal from the engine gets embedded in the soft alloy.

 

[PatGalvin]

My machine shop sent out my rockers and they came back like new for $165. That seemed like a screaming good deal to me. I like to self perform but don't have the precision equipment to do that job.

Pat

 

[CJD]

Out of 6 shafts I got 2 serviceable complete shafts. I tossed 4 shafts and about 16 worn rockers. The other 32 rockers were serviceable. I think I can go along with the dirty oil theory. The metal flakes would embed in the rocker and scrape on the shaft. Makes sense...

 

[TR3driver]

FWIW, I was really happy with the results from Rocker Arm Specialists. They replaced the shaft, bushings, adjusters, springs and locknuts; for about what the parts would have cost me. I'm still not absolutely certain if they replaced the rockers themselves or just did a really nice job of reconditioning them, but they literally looked like new, right down to the copper plating. If I ever need it again, I will definitely check out Rocker Arms Unlimited.

Note that, after reaming the new bushings, you should also regrind the rocker tip to the right radius and parallel with the new bushing bore. There is a fairly simple machine that holds the rocker (by the bore) against the grinding wheel; but I don't see any way to do it right without some sort of jig to do that.

 

[Jerry]

We bought new rockers when they were on sale for two cars and reamed them to fit the new rod. Not too bad. I tried buying new bushings for the 3 rd engine and drilling the weep holes turned out to be a nightmare. The old rockers were so hard, I broke about 10 drill bits and had one rocker unusable after drilling. I decided that using rocker arm specialist who I have used before is MUCH better than doing it yourself. But, if the rockers were on sale for the $7 we paid before, I would go that route.
Jerry