I’m going to put a new set of oem LS3 rockers with a BTR V2 trunnion kit in and was wondering if you guys recommend replacing the pedestal mounts also? I didn’t know if these can cause issues but I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get new ones while I’m at it.
The reason I’m changing rocker arms is because I currently have the stock rockers with CHE trunnions in and I always see some fine gold glitter everytime I change the oil. I know a lot of guys love the CHE kit but I feel like the caged needle bearings with the BTR kit might be better for longevity. I’m trying like hell to clear up an isolated ticking noise I have on either cylinder 1 or 3 for awhile now and the rockers are the only part of the equation that haven’t been changed. Also would you guys recommend using the BTR rockers or just stick with the oem GM rockers? Whichever one I get I’m going to use the BTR v2 trunnion kit.
This whole time I was thinking this noise was lifter related but I think there’s a good possibility it’s rocker related.

 

For what you have been through,what's a few more dollars for piece of mind?If you aren't going to keep your old rockers I may be interested in them for a project.

 

Thats kind of where I’m at with it. I can get the new rockers with the trunnion kit and new bolts for under $400. I will probably do this fairly soon so I will message you once they are removed and see if you are still interested.

 

I would just stick with the stock GM rockers. They are proven.

Another option would be the BTR Shaft Rocker system. Has a very beefy pedestal and comes with the same BTR roller bearings as their trunnion kit.

I just installed this in my car trying to eliminate any possibly of noise or valve train problems and so far so good. And same exact pushrod length.

 

Before you go too far with the disassembly, wiggle the rockers a bit to see if you can detect any play. At this point, you don't know where that glitter you see in the oil is coming from.

 

I did. When the valve is fully closed most of them have side to side play in them. The glitter could be coming from somewhere else but the motor was recently torn down and there wasn’t any visible wear in any of the bearings.

 

Without further evidence of where the gold glitter is coming from, I'd be really worried about cam, rod, and main bearings.
You could send your oil in for analysis and at least find out what the material is, so you can narrow down the source.

 

If your cam has high lift and/or an aggressive lobe style, you're going to have accelerated wear on the rocker arms....no matter what trunnion upgrade you use. I'm using stock rocker arms with a .620 lift CamMotion camshaft. I changed them and the BTR platinum dual valve springs after 30K miles. They looked fine and probably could have gone longer. I figure rocker arms and valve springs are normal maintenance items in an LS3 with a high lift cam that gets buzzed to 7K rpm quite often.

 

Yeah I was looking at those as well, that probably would be the better option.
Yeah I was going to put a few more miles on my current oil then send it off to Blackstone.
Im pretty confident it’s coming from the trunnions. It’s kind of a long story but the motor was pulled and rebuilt due to having fine metal shavings (silver) in my oil. Turns out the heads needed a valve job, no idea what caused it. But no visible wear on any of the stock bearings or cam.
I have a BTR stage 2 cam so .620 lift as well. I had these trunnions installed when the motor was stock but only had about 3k miles on them when the cam went in, after the cam I’ve prob added an additional 2k miles. The rockers are stock but the trunnions have low total miles but I just feel like the bronze bushings aren’t going to last all that long. It probably won’t but if the new rockers fix this isolated tick I have I will be thrilled. Heck at this point I’m wondering if that tick is because of the profile of the BTR stage 2 cam, I’ve talked to some other ppl with the same cam and a very similar noise.

 

You could tell a little about how aggressive the lobes are if you could get "advertised duration" on that cam. That's the duration at .006 or .008. I'm going to guess that they won't give it to you though. Cam Motion used to grind their camshafts. I have no idea who does it now.

 

I don’t know either, I called and asked them once but they wouldn’t say. Comp used to grind their cams until a few years ago but not now…
and I actually think it might be Cam Motion now, I know for sure they grind some of their cams.
Here is the specs card that came with it.

 

Before ordering new rockers I thought about swapping sides, pedestal and all, with my current rockers just to see if the noise changes. Would you guys recommend trying that first?

 

Honestly, the best thing to do would be to take the rockers off and disassemble them carefully and inspect the bronze bushings for wear. They can be re-assembled if they are fine.

I know that some people have had issues with the bushings wearing quite a bit. But I seem to recall this was when everyone and their grandmother was coming out with a trunnion upgrade kit and the several revisions of the bronze bushing kits early on. Looking at the current CHE kit, they are using a thinner bronze bushing and thicker shaft with diagonal oil grooves. Manton also makes a bronze bushing kit (theirs is the one I would get if I was going to go that route). The thicker shaft and thinner bushing will increase surface area and decrease pressure on all surfaces which should be more durable.

But I have never been a fan of the bronze trunnion kits. It does give you more surface area and the rocker is more supported but a bronze bushing is a sacrificial bushing. It is made to wear. Since it is a soft metal when it wears, the particles won't turn into grinding dust and destroy the hard parts.

As for the pedestals, I have never heard of any body have problems caused by the pedestals.

And if you are seeing gold particles in your oil, it is very likely from those bronze bushings.

 

If I canget my son to do it I will send you a video of mine.I have the same cam with the V2 upgrade from BTR.Not very good at doing those types of things.I'm old!

 

haha understandable… yea that would be great. I’ll pm you because he will have to email it or text it to me

 

One thing I meant to ask, with the new rockers should I just re-use the factory rocker bolts or would there be any benefit to getting the BTR trunnion kit rocker bolts?

 

Reusing the GM bolts is fine. The BTR bolts would be stronger.

But I would recommend the ARP studs. You get more clamping force as the studs will engage 100% of the threads in the head. The bolts don’t bottom out so don’t use the full length of the threaded hole. Also, makes rocker install a little easier and of course the ARP studs are ultimate strength.

 

So I ended up ordering new oem rockers with the BTR trunnion kit. Wanted to do the shaft mount kit but I have some other things I need to get so I opted for the lesser expensive option. I was looking at other options for the rocker pedestals and found these. All three are supposed to be much more rigid than the stock ones and help with valve control. Has anybody ever used any of these? My only concern would be whether or not they are the exact same thickness as stock so it won’t affect lifter preload. I do have a digital caliper so I can measure but non of them say anything in their description about being the same thickness as the stock stands.