When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
BTR trunnions VS Summit Trunnions ACCURATE comparison inside
BTR trunnion kit VS Summit Trunnion kit ACCURATE comparison
So LS guys all know the stock rocker arm trunnions are a weak point in the valvetrain due to the danger of a needle bearing design, which if fails it will send needles throughout the motor resulting in a potentially catastrophic failure. The "trunnion" upgrade is a very common upgrade to get rid of the faulty OEM design as well as reduce friction in the fulcrum. 3 primary companies "produce" these upgrade kits at varying price points. Notably Comp Cams, BTR and Summit. Having encountered 2 of the 3 and hearing countless questions and remarks debating which is better, I decided to compare them myself.
Brian Tooley himself has highlighted the use of USA made bearings as well as a heavy duty snap ring retainer design to keep them in place inside of the rocker arm itself. Comparing the two brands (Summit and BTR) you can see the bearings are exactly the same, part number being KN-101305 and clearly both stamped with "Made in USA".
Moving onto the snap rings. Brian also highlights the use of a heavy duty snap ring in his kit. The Summit kit uses the same exact design. No part numbers are listed on either however the widths vary between the rings from 0.0415 to 0.0433 inches in thickness. There is no difference between the two kits besides the obvious tolerances given to the measurements of each. Both kits had these varying measurements.
Lastly the trunnions themselves. They both look exactly the same, and have the same measurements as well, given once again we pay attention to machining tolerances from one to another.
Now for the very obvious kit differences. The BTR box is an in-house design as well as the Summit. I've noticed as well with the BTR kits you get the EXACT amount of bearings in the kit as opposed to with Summit you usually receive an extra bearing or two as well as extra snap rings. One clear advantage over the Summit kit is the fact that the the BTR kit includes rocker arm bolts inside of it as well as alignment washers, however both of these things could be picked up at a hardware store or online OEM bolts. In BTRs kit it is just a typical 12.9 Allen headed bolt.
The main thing to highlight is the mark up. Both kits being the same in consideration of the upgrade itself, both prices are an AS OF NOW type deal.
BTR listed on his site -$119.00
Summit on their site -$99.97
I have personally installed both and they both do the exact same job and work flawlessly. So the consensus here is unless you absolutely need extra bolts, the Summit kit will get you the exact same product as the BTRs will at 20ish dollars less. As far as the install washers, any washer with a 5/8 opening from a hardware store will work. Pictures are listed below.
Note: this post was not intended to criticize Summit or BTR. I run BTR parts in my motor and have friends who do as well. He sells great stuff.
Brian Tooley Trunnion box
Summit Trunnion box
BTR and Summit snapring visual comparison
BTR snapring measurement
Summit snapring measurement
BTR vs Summit bearing comparison
BTR bearing. Notice part number and made in USA
Summit bearing. Notice the same stampings
BTR trunnion VS summit trunnion visual comparison
BTR trunnion length measurement
Summit trunnion length measurement
BTR bolt vs OEM bolt
Last edited by Almonz T/A; 11-28-2015 at 10:48 PM.
This isn't surprising... remember, Summit bought TrickFlow and TEA about the same time. And Brian used to own TEA. They still do a lot of business together.
I think the point is - the BTR/Summit stuff is different than the Comp/Lunati brands. However, the Lunati trunions I have look very much like the BTR kit... down to the bolts.
Nice comparison. One thing to keep in mind also if you purchase from BTR and have any issue its nice to call him up instead of a rep like at summit. The customer service would be worth the extra 20 bucks IMO. Nice work OP.
So the only difference is: Tooley's kit includes bolts and install washers. He does have super fast shipping though, but I never used his customer service. Tooley does have problems keeping stock on hand though.
Nice comparison. One thing to keep in mind also if you purchase from BTR and have any issue its nice to call him up instead of a rep like at summit. The customer service would be worth the extra 20 bucks IMO. Nice work OP.
Never had an issue from Summit customer service. In reality they are like the walmart of racing parts, doing a massive amount of volume and regardless are generally pretty highly regarded as far as service. That says a lot.
Summit CS kicks ***...I recently bought a pair of MT 275-50-15's from them and one ended up being so out of round it would not balance. They sent me a replacement out right away and sent a call tag out to pick up the defective tire asap.
There are generally a LOT of brands for things and few manufacturers, this goes for just about everything except maybe farm goods where many farms sell to few packagers.
The comment about Summit being the "walmart of racing parts" is brilliant in it's simplicity, they can sell you anything, quickly, at a good price and are usually good about returns. If you have a QUESTION someone like Tooley is worth every penny of the extra they cost.
11-28-2015, 10:40 PM
BTR trunnions VS Summit Trunnions ACCURATE comparison inside 
