Crower rocker arm pedestal bolt snapped.
04-29-2008, 04:10 PM
#1
Crower rocker arm pedestal bolt snapped. I have the Crower shaft mount rocker arms to use on my ETP heads. The instructions that they sent with them clearly say to torque the rocker arm bolts to 25lbs, and the pedestal bolts to 55lbs. We thought that 55lbs seemed a bit high, but we followed the instructions.
One of the pedestal bolts all the way at the back of the head, under the cowl snapped.
How are we supposed to remove that broken bolt now? We have been told to heat it up, and try to tap it something counter clockwise, or try to get a angled drill to it. There isn't much room to work with under the F-body cowl, so it may not work. We might have to take off the head.
So I call up Crower, and let me say that is the worst customer service I have ever had. Very unprofesional and unknoledgable. They put me on hold numerous times, while I could still hear them talking and swearing in the background, trying to figure out who mest up. It took me for ever to get it out of them that they included the wrong torque specs. They had me fax them the sheet because they didn't believe it had the wrong torque specs.
At first they were saying 55lbs on the pedestall bolt is correct. I had some type of manager yelling at me "which part of 55lbs dont you understand, you fucked up the install, theres no way that bolt would snap". I sayed that can't be right, and insisted he call and ask someone else. They put me on hold for about 20 minutes(while I could hear them in the background arguing about what it should be, and swearing at each other), and eventualy admited that they have the torque specs wrong, that it should be 25-30lbs, not 55! They told me that they will send me new bolts, but they wanted me to pay for the shipping! I refused and just argued, and was put on hold again, until he got the okay to send me the bolts at their expense. So now the bolts are on the way, they are paying for the shipping, but me and my buddy will most likely be stuck with removing the head just to take that broken bolt out. I will have to buy a new head gasket($75 felpro), the felpro carb ls1 manifold gaskets($25?) and who knows what else will be needed...
I tryed to get them to send me a check for the head and intake manifold gaskets, and he told me to "send a letter to Dave Crower, make it all pretty, include pictures, and maybe he will get to it"
All I have to say is horrible customer service, they seemed more interested in yelling and swearing at each other about who mest up, then taking care of me. I didn't hear one apology. I dont think I will be a Crower customer again. I hope their research and design team is better than their customer service, as I dont have much faith in this company right now.
If anyone has installed their shaft mount rocker arms and used the 55ft lbs torque on the pedestal bolt, good luck.
One of the pedestal bolts all the way at the back of the head, under the cowl snapped.
How are we supposed to remove that broken bolt now? We have been told to heat it up, and try to tap it something counter clockwise, or try to get a angled drill to it. There isn't much room to work with under the F-body cowl, so it may not work. We might have to take off the head. So I call up Crower, and let me say that is the worst customer service I have ever had. Very unprofesional and unknoledgable. They put me on hold numerous times, while I could still hear them talking and swearing in the background, trying to figure out who mest up. It took me for ever to get it out of them that they included the wrong torque specs. They had me fax them the sheet because they didn't believe it had the wrong torque specs.
At first they were saying 55lbs on the pedestall bolt is correct. I had some type of manager yelling at me "which part of 55lbs dont you understand, you fucked up the install, theres no way that bolt would snap". I sayed that can't be right, and insisted he call and ask someone else. They put me on hold for about 20 minutes(while I could hear them in the background arguing about what it should be, and swearing at each other), and eventualy admited that they have the torque specs wrong, that it should be 25-30lbs, not 55! They told me that they will send me new bolts, but they wanted me to pay for the shipping! I refused and just argued, and was put on hold again, until he got the okay to send me the bolts at their expense. So now the bolts are on the way, they are paying for the shipping, but me and my buddy will most likely be stuck with removing the head just to take that broken bolt out. I will have to buy a new head gasket($75 felpro), the felpro carb ls1 manifold gaskets($25?) and who knows what else will be needed...
I tryed to get them to send me a check for the head and intake manifold gaskets, and he told me to "send a letter to Dave Crower, make it all pretty, include pictures, and maybe he will get to it"
All I have to say is horrible customer service, they seemed more interested in yelling and swearing at each other about who mest up, then taking care of me. I didn't hear one apology. I dont think I will be a Crower customer again. I hope their research and design team is better than their customer service, as I dont have much faith in this company right now.
If anyone has installed their shaft mount rocker arms and used the 55ft lbs torque on the pedestal bolt, good luck.
04-29-2008, 09:08 PM
#5
TECH Fanatic
Well, they can't blame it on Metric/English conversion. 55 Newton meters is about 40 lb-ft, not 25-30.
What size ar the pedestal bolts? M8 (8 mm) or 5/16?. 25-30 Lb-ft sounds about right for either. M10 would still be considerably under 55 lb-ft. A 7/16-14 would be 55 max in an aluminum head. This would give about 7500 lbs. of clamping load, which seems like serious overkill.
I am amazed at your story about the tech line call. You are making that up, right?
Jon
What size ar the pedestal bolts? M8 (8 mm) or 5/16?. 25-30 Lb-ft sounds about right for either. M10 would still be considerably under 55 lb-ft. A 7/16-14 would be 55 max in an aluminum head. This would give about 7500 lbs. of clamping load, which seems like serious overkill.
I am amazed at your story about the tech line call. You are making that up, right?
Jon
04-29-2008, 10:23 PM
#6
I am amazed at your story about the tech line call. You are making that up, right?
The bolt is a 5/16. It turned out better than I thought today. We just took a Dremel with a small cut off blade, and notched the bolt so we can use a flat head screwdriver to turn it. It notched the head a little bit too, but just barely. Now we are just waiting for the bolts to come in. We pulled out the rest of the bolts, and inspected the threads in the head. So far so good.
04-30-2008, 07:56 AM
#7
TECH Fanatic
I wish I was making it up.
The bolt is a 5/16. It turned out better than I thought today. We just took a Dremel with a small cut off blade, and notched the bolt so we can use a flat head screwdriver to turn it. It notched the head a little bit too, but just barely. Now we are just waiting for the bolts to come in. We pulled out the rest of the bolts, and inspected the threads in the head. So far so good.
The bolt is a 5/16. It turned out better than I thought today. We just took a Dremel with a small cut off blade, and notched the bolt so we can use a flat head screwdriver to turn it. It notched the head a little bit too, but just barely. Now we are just waiting for the bolts to come in. We pulled out the rest of the bolts, and inspected the threads in the head. So far so good.
Fortunately female threads are a lot stronger than male threads. That's why we call her Mother Nature and not Father Nature! You solution was an excellent one!
Good luck.
Jon
