Suburban down.

[SUBURBAN5]

Well officially the suburban down. Yesterday the stud that holds the rocker gave out. Thank you to everybody who already has thrived helping me with that. Since the truck not gonna be driven for a while I figured I will post pic and updates.

First thing first is the engine. I want to get that back up and running. Just dont know what parts I need to order. Meaning size, length, style.

After that I'll start working on the dash and try to get that to look at least decent.

While it's in the garage I'll pull the drums and check out the backing plate.

Last I'll check out the driveshaft and rear end to see if that clunking can simmer down.

I'll need some help along the way. Thank you to anybody who chimes in and give me some pointers. I'll be posting some pics.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Daylight

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Stumpy]

That's an amazingly clean break. Wonder what would make it do that?

 

[stutaeng]

Yikes! Is this your truck with like 400k+ miles?

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Yikes! Is this your truck with like 400k+ miles?

Yeah but that's not the original motor lol.
Shes gonna need some love. I hoping it won't be so bad

 

[stutaeng]

Um, no telling assuming everything was running correctly prior to this. I'll admit I don't know much on how the heads work or how they go together.

Maybe the studs were overtorqued? It did shear at the threaded part, right? Just plain 'ol fatigue failure? Fatigue failure occurs under low stress, but it's a combination of stress, vibration, load reversal (hysteresis), heat/cold cycles, etc. Has to do with grain structure and microscopic cracks...don't know any more than that; somehow I remember this from college materials science, LOL.

Keep us posted.

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Um, no telling assuming everything was running correctly prior to this. I'll admit I don't know much on how the heads work or how they go together.

Maybe the studs were overtorqued? It did shear at the threaded part, right? Just plain 'ol fatigue failure? Fatigue failure occurs under low stress, but it's a combination of stress, vibration, load reversal (hysteresis), heat/cold cycles, etc. Has to do with grain structure and microscopic cracks...don't know any more than that; somehow I remember this from college materials science, LOL.

Keep us posted.

Will do. I'm not sure it was rattling for 2days before it busted. I'm sure it was overnighted or possibly the stud was too long. Long story about this motor. But to some it up the people who build it just didnt care and did a poor job. If I had the money I throw this one out and throw in a gm 383 with a 3yr warranty and jump back on the road...

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Well to stay busy I went ahead and started with my dash bezel.
The original one is still in the suburban all crappy. I'm finally able to switch it with this one I bought from ebay.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Hipster]

Not all fasteners are created equal. A high stress component like a rocker stud needs good hardware. ARP fasteners comes to mind. Stay away from cheap junk.

The rocker arms, are they self aligning? I'm not seeing guide plates. If not self aligning they are moving all over the place with the engine running and could be creating some nasty harmonics, and therefore, the breakage.

Edit, The pushrod tip looks pretty hammered. You might want to look at the cam lobe and lifter to make sure it's not hammered as well.

One other thing I'm looking at here is how the valve spring sits under the retainer. The bottom side of the top retainer should have a step/register that centers the valve spring under the retainer. 2 of the 3 springs I see look off center as if the spring is not located or it has the wrong retainers(too small) for those springs. The bottom side spring pocket in the head looks like it was cut for a 1.4-1.5 spring but it looks like it's a 1.26 sitting on a shim. Maybe it's located on the inner diameter of the spring but a lot times you see the spring in a spring cup that centers the spring to the guide, Again, a spring walking around can create a lot of vibration/harmonics in the valvetrain. It's a pretty beefy looking spring but needs the right set up. It's best to source springs and retainer from the same manufacturer.

 

[Pinger]

Is the valve as free in its guide as it needs to be?