Well, I went to a local metal heat treating shop this afternoon and they did a Rockwell test on my new Comp Cams pushrod and a used one that I have (no idea whose it is). Both came out at 60.4, which I was told is very hard. I told him the issue of wear & he said that if there is a problem with wear, it's made of low-carbon steel. I asked about heat treating the tips and he said that it wouldn't do any good if the steel is cheap. So, I guess this leave me with a trial and error method.
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