Rocker Shaft and Wear

[hambone]

Took apart the rocker arm assembly; there is wear on the underside of the shaft. Calipers don't show an undersize, but there are a few "lines" with coppery material embedded (bearing material transfer?).
My gut says they're ok for now, but will need replacement. However I can't find a vendor that sells rocker components.
What is the standard procedure in this situation? I have cleaned everything and reassembled on the shaft, and there isn't any excess play.
Is it OK to rotate the shaft 180 deg? Someone on Samba recommended that. Seems like a good idea.

[grandfatherjim]

Took apart the rocker arm assembly; there is wear on the underside of the shaft. Calipers don't show an undersize, but there are a few "lines" with coppery material embedded (bearing material transfer?).
My gut says they're ok for now, but will need replacement. However I can't find a vendor that sells rocker components.
What is the standard procedure in this situation? I have cleaned everything and reassembled on the shaft, and there isn't any excess play.
Is it OK to rotate the shaft 180 deg? Someone on Samba recommended that. Seems like a good idea.

If you get to the point of having it refurbished, I have had very good results from Rocker Arm Specialist. I got them to do an assembly from my 1952 Ferguson tractor and it was a work of art. The rockers had bushings installed (there were none originally), the shaft was either rechromed or replaced; it's impossible to tell, the rocker tips were reground and rehardened, and the rockers were plated with copper.
Cost me about $100 (it's a four cylinder inline so eight rockers).
Jim

http://www.rockerarms.com

[Amskeptic]

Took apart the rocker arm assembly; there is wear on the underside of the shaft. Calipers don't show an undersize, but there are a few "lines" with coppery material embedded (bearing material transfer?).
My gut says they're ok for now, but will need replacement. However I can't find a vendor that sells rocker components.
What is the standard procedure in this situation? I have cleaned everything and reassembled on the shaft, and there isn't any excess play.
Is it OK to rotate the shaft 180 deg? Someone on Samba recommended that. Seems like a good idea.

That is my tried and true recommendation. Give the shaft a good thorough 45* cross-hatch with 220 grit to help trap oil. Don't forget to wash it until your paper towel comes up with no grey anywhere. Also, lightly crosshatch sand the inside of the rocker bushings with 400 grit, just a kiss. I do a "hone" with a socket extension wrapped in said sandpaper. Rockers can live with up to .002-3" play. Mine have a genuine 575,000 miles on them, and they are a tad broken-in at this point.
Colin

[hambone]

Will do thanks. "How to Make Your VW Last Forever". RIP Mr. Muir.

[SlowLane]

Is it OK to rotate the shaft 180 deg? Someone on Samba recommended that. Seems like a good idea.

Is this a type 4?

Reason I ask is this: when I rebuilt my Vanagon engine, I blithely rotated the rocker shafts 180 degrees to allow the rockers to operate on the unsullied "top" half of the shaft surface. But the rockers didn't want to install nicely. It didn't feel right when I torqued the nuts down, and the shafts looked like they were cockeyed.

On closer inspection I noticed that the bores in the shafts were chamfered on one side but not the other. The chamfered side had been installed "down" (towards the head) when I disassembled it, so I looked at why the un-chamfered side might present a problem. Turns out that the un-chamfered side was hanging up on the stud shoulder, preventing the assembly from seating squarely against the head. I could even see a little burr on the stud shoulder where the shaft interfered with the stud.

Two solutions suggested themselves: install the shafts as they were originally, or put a chamfer on the un-chamfered side of the shaft.

Hope this helps. It may or may not apply to your engine, but it's just one more potential "gotcha". To the best of my recollection, the type 1 didn't have this problem.

*** EDIT ***
Whups, okay. You've been posting enough messages about your type 1 rebuild I should have clued in. Sorry 'bout that, but perhaps someone will find this tidbit useful. :)