wear on pushrod tips

Looking at the tips of the my pushrods on the :v6: : they have some appreciable wear on the tip that connects with the rocker arm, the lifters themselves don't have concave surfaces where they contact the cam lobe. Is this a somewhat normal wear factor? I am just refreshing the engine, not rebuilding, since it was running fairly well and has low mileage (about 30K) and good compression. I guess I will replace them, but was just curious about the wear, since I am mostly familar with Chevys and have not run across much pushrod wear over the years :?

 

I've run into the same thing with about the same mileage. In my case, and this is just speculation within the local Jeep community here, is that the rails that all of the rocker arm pivot on was full of sludge so minimal oil was reaching the rockers. So even though the tips of the rockers aren't directly lubed, less oil was in the area and resulted in wear.

I don't see any problem with replacing a push rod and rocker together and not a lifter since the critical contact area on a lifter is on the cam. But someone else will chime in (I hope). I'm planning on just getting a couple of push rods and rockers from www.oldbuickparts.com and calling it good.

 

A good picture will help.
What do you consider appreciable wear/ .001-.003"
My motor had 166k on it when I rebuilt it 2 years ago, I used the stock pushrods and rockers.

 

Unless you find a dished lifter, I wouldn't replace them. If you replace a push rod because of wear on the rocker end, there will be corresponding wear on the rocker and it should be replaced as well. 30k is not that many miles. Unless it has been driven hard there shouldn't be that much wear. Shiny is normal and unless the surface is appreciably flattened they should be alright.
:v6:

 

A good friend of mine just rebuilt his and one of the major factors was smoking and after the tear down the exact same thing was found,severe push rod wear at the rocker arm contact.And several more with the sludge look on the tips,seems to be a deal with these little motors.

 

I will get a picture tonight. Not just shiny, but, lets call it "eroded". Tips are worn down, actually on both ends (did some more looking last night). I am guessing oil flow? I found some sludge in the pan when I first got it, but the valley and head areas were pretty clean and free of gunk. Rocker tips show little wear, looks normal although I did not mike them. Just each end of the pushrod is worn, the top being worn in a "crease' across the top of the ball. Bottom is similar, although mostly in a circular fashion.

Looks like a trip to Advanced Auto Parts is in store.... , although better to have found out now rather than on the trail.

 

I'd say the wear is a symptom, not a root-cause. Low flow to the tappets, pushrods, and valvetrain. I would recommend figuring it out and getting it fixed. The hardened skin of the pushrod is gone so they'll continue to "shorten". Valve lash will grow loose over time. Valve guides are also probably not getting sufficient lubrication, which will cause them to wear, which will cause them to leak, which will cause the engine to smoke. It's more like having high blood pressure: it'll get you eventually if you do nothing. It's not something that will ruin it tomorrow...probably.