Maybe that's the source of your valvetrain noise. Would a cheapskate rotate the shafts 180° and call it ok?
Nothing in a roller bearing is really what you would call sacrificial. All the parts are at about the same hardness and as there is no wiping action theoretically at least there is no wear. The major risk is abrasion from hard particles, followed by spalling from overloading which is why clean oil is so important. One downside of rollers is the very high point load where the roller contacts the journal. Here, any sort of misalignment or foreign body can overload the point of contact and cause localized spalling, which will then just get worse. That looks like the kind of damage you have there. Not to accuse you of dirty oil you understand, some designs just have an inadequate safety margin which I think is why JN likes bushings. jim
If you flip the shaft, flip the roller cage as well so the once unstressed needle bearings from the top will now take the stress on the bottom. IMO needle bearings are better for something that spins with an equal load on them not just actuates back and forth with an unequal load. Yes a bushing would be better to take the load like on a big 10,000 lb or higher press uses bushings not roller bearings to actuate the ram where the load is on one side of the bushing like the rocker shaft setup is. With a bushing the rocker can do its actuating on a film of pressurize oil on the shaft if designed to work that way like a crankshaft spins on.
In your case maybe??? remove the bearings & install the proper bushings??? IF the roller tip is also needles do the same. Now you don't have to spend 1K+ for new rockers. Just a thought. Tom T.
I'm not sure that flipping the shaft is a good idea. Even though the rockers don't spin, how sure are you that the bearings actually stay in the installed position? Even piston rings can change position. Plus, now that the surface is rough, it would lead to more wear. If one small piece were to come off of the shaft, it would destroy the bearing. Probably seven years ago, I sold my new Kenne Bell roller rockers to upgrade from bushings to bearings. I'm wondering if bushings are actually a better idea. Oh well, too late now.
I think they just wore out LOL. Which is cool, back in the 90's when I bought them they were almost 600.00, Im happy I got my moneys worth Time takes its toll too on parts, sitting for months, possible dry starts, plus what you mentioned about possible misalignment of parts over the years.
Pressing out old and pressing on new bearings, just noticed a BIG DIFFERENCE, I like the new bearings better. First pic is of old original 1995 bearings
My ride for sure! Im gonna get pushrods this weekend from Summit Racing. What Im going to do is install the rockers I put new bearings in on the passenger side since that side is the bitchiest to do. I'll run the old bearings on the old shaft on the drivers side for now till the new bearings come in, and yes Im going to turn the shaft upside down so the wear portion is on top, FOR NOW I wanna DRIVE the thing damnit
you know we are not getting any younger waiting for you to quit playing around. my ride is just waiting for good weather.