Has anyone had trouble breaking their shafts? After running a 35 year old set of Kenne-Bells and never breaking a shaft, second time out break a Harlan Sharp shaft this weekend. I was concerned when I looked at them and sure enough they broke like a stocker. I know of a couple of ways to fix this myself but after spending the money for these, I feel disappointed. They were at the track and I sent the broken pieces with them but they have not called yet and I want to get going on it. Went back to the old K-Bs to finish the race. Jim Netherland Mad Torquer 67 GS400 NSS
Maybe you need to call them and see if anything is being done, I call all my place to see what progress is being done and actually get to know the engineers too.:TU:
Surpised that no one has had any experience with these rockers. Or is my problem just a one-off. Jim N.
Jim I ran Harland Sharps for years and never had a problem. I know of one person who broke a shaft at the BPG race but they were not the Harland Sharps. Did the shafts on these rockers look different than others?
I've been running them for years Jim,so has my son,no issues,we're running solid cams with 140# seat pressure though.Maybe you run more? gary
Deal is Gary, I'm running a little more seat pressure, but not much, but I ran the Kenne-Bells for 11 years and never broke a one. They were used when I got them. I'm not happy with them breaking and sure not happy that they did not call like they said they would or return an email. I'm getting a little concerned about this deal. I like the looks of the rockers, but was concerned about the shafts when they came out of the box. The shaft material looks about like stock material. Jim N.
John as far as breaking shafts, I've seen several break on stock engines and mild street cars. We always made out own shafts out of better material, and if I don't get some action form Harlan Sharp soon, that's what I will do again. JIm N.
Hey not to a smart ass but if you get the shaft back send it to T/A for a look or T&D, Either one will tell you whats what. Post some pictures of it if you have any? If not ask them for the shaft back and ask for a explaination on why it broke!! If no answer then you can rant rave on them about how bad there product is.
No John, they were brand new and I have less than 20 runs on them. The Kenne-Bells that I have ran for 12 seasons without a shaft failure were used when I got them. The H-S were right out of the box. JIm N.
I wonderif they cheapened up the shaft material lately?my shafts are definatey not stock looking.I'm suprised the customer service is so poor gary
Okay, talked to Harlan Sharp today. The guy was great and has new parts on the way. That made me feel better. He said they knew they had a problem. The heat treat to make the shafts hold up to the needle bearings made them brittle. If I understood him correctly, the new shafts will be solid. He said since they didn't sell many Buick sets, put us on the back burner, and I understand that. Anyway hope to be going soon and they did what they said they do and stand behind their product. Jim Netherland
Jim, I'm running the same rockers and had 2 shafts brake on me in BG last year in a single pass. Harland Sharp makes an excellent rocker arm,but the shafts are farmed out and they suck. To much of a heat treatment on them making them way to hard. My rockers had like 5 dyno pulls and about a dozen passes on them before they broke. Lucky for me I pay attention to my gauges and saved a motor. When they snapped it kicked a lifter out of its' bore and I lost oil press like now. Mike Phillips from AM&P hooked me up with some T/A shafts at the track and they have been fine ever since. Randy is a stand up guy and he will do anything he can to make it right for you.
Mike, Thanks for posting this!!! I have met and talked with Randy several times and he does seem to be a stand up guy. But why would he send out the "BAD" shafts if he knows they are bad??? These engines just cost WAYYY to much $$ to using a product that the manufacturer knows are bad. Kinda pisses me off and it didn't even happen to me.
John: I sure know the feeling. I broke a rocker (another brand) in 2005 at a race 600 miles from home and it kicked out a lifter, bent a pushrod and lifter caught in valley and broke a lifter boss. That was on the second time trial after driving all that way. I have been lucky and not kicked out a lifter since. Luckly I didn't on this last deal. The new shafts are much heavier, but not solid. About a 1/16" thicker wall or a total of 1/8" more material. I will not bad mouth Harlan Sharp yet as they got the shafts out quickly and I just hope I am through with problems in that department. But as you said John, that's scary. JIm N.
John I cant answer that. Randy claimed he didn't know the batch of shafts where bad till he started getting phone calls on them. When mine broke I called my engine builder from the track to let him know what happen and to see if they knew anything that might be wrong with Sharp's setup. He then told me about a couple Ford and Mopar guys that had just recently broke shafts prior to my failure. I really don't believe Randy would let known bad parts leave his warehouse. A thing like that could put a bad name out there for them and close there doors forever. I do know that he has dropped that shaft manufacturer since then,and has done his best to make things right. But,as I know with dealing with the public,that isn't always an easy task.
Hold on there, If you think over harden shafts is gonna put him under because he found out after the fact and did not get the word out fast enough!!! Your dead nuts wrong, Harland Sharp has been in business before any roller rocker company out there. They are the Most powerful and proven rockers out there hands down. Besides Jesel had the same problem many years ago, are they dead yet? CompCams had a problem three years ago on the stud mount roller rockers( the high end ones for a year and half) Their still kickin good. Crane has had faults, their still kickin good. Oh here is the BEST ONE CROWER CAMS, yes your beloved cam from T/A has had there problems but I see T/A is still using them and several others too. Harland will have it fixed before you even have a chance to install the new bar. Never knock on someone unless it's on the process already of being going under.
Well I will soon see I guess. Got a couple of races coming up in Indy and then the GS Nationals in Bowling Green. The shafts are diffently different. They are also shorter. They don't use the 1/4" spacer at each end, just a thin shim. The thing I don't run killer spring pressures or turn high rpm. People like John and some of the other heavy hitters would be more likely to have problems. I will give it one more shot, then it I have a failure I will have a machinist friend of mine to make me a set like we used years ago with stock rockers, never brok a one. Jim N.
Rocker Arms are installed and valves adjusted. Not as simple as one would think. Since shafts were different, the shims had to be changed and since I was reshimming, I decided to get some shims nearer the correct diameter as the shaft. Ordered some valve springs shims in .015" and .030" that were listed as the correct diameter. Picked up shims Sat. am and found they were .002" too small. Luckly I had a small bushing hone that I used to make them fit. A very time consuming job of getting the shims where the pushrods would be centered in the hole in the heads. I was also able to finally find some grade 8 studs to use in the heads and ny-loc nuts to complete the job. Hope this proves to be the cure. Just glad I didn't damage anything else. Jim N.
