WTH

[pwDave]

was getting the car ready to go on the trailer for the trip to the muffler shop, had it sitting there idling when it kinda made an odd popping sound and died, would not start again so I winched it back in the shop. pulled the drivers side valve cover and found the problem, harlon sharp rocker shaft broke right in the middle, started at the end and started lossening the hold downs, when I got done I had a rocker shaft in four pieces. no damage to the rockers or shims or anything else that I could see, was without oil pressure for about 6 or 7 seconds while it was dying. and just for everyones info, I am 90% sure that it was my fault by not pulling the rockers down evenly enough, and broke it myself during assemely. lucky it was just sitting there at idle. Dave.

 

[Mike67]

Ouch!, better to find it now than out on the road.
Hopefully there is no other damage!

 

[pwDave]

Ouch!, better to find it now than out on the road.
Hopefully there is no other damage!

My thoughts exactly, Dave.

 

[Fran Blacker]

was getting the car ready to go on the trailer for the trip to the muffler shop, had it sitting there idling when it kinda made an odd popping sound and died, would not start again so I winched it back in the shop. pulled the drivers side valve cover and found the problem, harlon sharp rocker shaft broke right in the middle, started at the end and started lossening the hold downs, when I got done I had a rocker shaft in four pieces. no damage to the rockers or shims or anything else that I could see, was without oil pressure for about 6 or 7 seconds while it was dying. and just for everyones info, I am 90% sure that it was my fault by not pulling the rockers down evenly enough, and broke it myself during assemely. lucky it was just sitting there at idle. Dave.

What about the other side?

 

[Cranky]

I would think that a shaft should be so hard and brittle to have cracked because of uneven installing. Bending....yeah, I could understand that better.

 

[pwDave]

What about the other side?

have already ordered two more shafts, not worth the risk of the other side breaking, although it looks good now, it is still on the car, doesn't make any difference, too much at stake with a motor thats only got 30 minutes running on it. Dave.

 

[451Mopar]

Have some healthy valve springs under those rockers?
I am using ARP studs to hold down the rocker shafts.

 

[pwDave]

Have some healthy valve springs under those rockers?
I am using ARP studs to hold down the rocker shafts.

There is also an issue with the victor heads when the spring pressures get up stairs w/ roller cams, it is splitting the rocker pedestel,( there is an article on hughes web site) the broken shaft had a polished spot in the middle break, tells me that more than likely I broke or cracked the shaft while installing it, the pass side was fine but I changed it anyway, no damage to anything else, no loose pieces or bent rods. got the new shafts on this afternoon, am going to make a pair of hold downs for the sides of the valley cover like the ends, had a slight seep some where under the intake, am going to stop it. spring are small, .590 cam Dave

 

[451Mopar]

If your running Victor heads, I'm one of the guys who has posted about the issues. Running a 0.720" lift cam with 700+ open pressure.
I broke the center rocker shaft stand(s) on the early MW first set of heads, and now have a newer MW set from Hughes with their CNC porting I broke an off-brand hold down stud listed as grade 8, but I think it might be a grade 5. It was one of the end studs, and so it broke the rocker shaft. Have all ARP studs now, and so far no problems for the last year.