The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop quick pushrod lengh question (mistery)

Hey guys long story short i need to replace the pushrods on my 54 chevy with what i believe a 56 235 engine and manual tranny. The numbers on the block are 3837004. It's got solid lifters! anyways i picked up a set of pushrods off ebay listed as 50-56 and figured i was safe. well got them in and sure enough they are way too long, 11-1/4" to be exact. So i pull out my chev of the 40s catalog and see 2 sizes available the above one which would be for a 235 with a powerglide and 10-3/8" which would be for a manual (mine). so i go measure my old ones and they are 10-5/8" so now i'm stumped, what size do i need? are the old ones wrong?

thanks alot!!!!

I guess I don't understand the issue. If the pushrods that came out are 10 5/8", the new ones need to be 10 5/8". I've discovered that a lot of the sellers on ebay don't really know what they are selling. If a part is in a box marked 48 Corvette rod cap they'll list it as such even though it's impossible for that to be the case. If you don't know what you're looking at don't trust the seller to know any more than you do.

pretty evident, the longer ones are for hydraulic lifters [cars with automatics], the shorter for solids [cars/trucks with manual trans] - the ebay listing just didn't include that little tidbit of critical info, so you bought the wrong ones .... cut'em off

Bill

let me simplify my question according to the books my engine/tranny combo should have 10-3/8" pushrods but i have 10-5/8" what are those doing in there? and which ones should i get, what's listed or was in there?

I went out & measured one of my old pushrods that got bent and it's 10 7/16". I have a 216 with '40 & up solid lifters. I got my pushrods through my FLAPS. Chevs shows the same pushrods should be 10 1/4" but the 10 7/16" work great. I don't think a 16/th or 8/th of an inch either way will hurt as long as you have adjustment capacity on the rocker arm. FYI, when you are buying engine parts for your 235 check at your FLAPS first. That family of engines is still fairly common in farm trucks and parts are often available without having to order them through a supplier like Chevs.

I was just thinking the same thing. They could be pretty far off so long as the room for adjustment was there, and they were adjusted properly for the difference in length.

well 10-3/8 is equal to 9.625 mm and 10-5/8 9.375 mm

so the ones in there now are .25 mm shorter than the ones the books call for. my head has been milled, pistons are .40 over and i'm using a copper head gasket. so hopefully that .25 isn't enough of a diff. to cause the pistons and valves to go out on a date.

i checked my flaps but they want about $60 for the 12 and these i got for $40 shipped. the seller offered to exchange them for the right ones. tks for the replies!

Might want to re-check your math. 10-5/8 minus 10-3/8 equals 1/4 inch which is about 6.35 mm.

Block casting 3837004 was used in 1955-57.
Truck had solid lifters,
Passenger had both, solid or hydraulic lifters.

I would not assume that the push rods that came out are the same size you put back in.

Are you sure your block is a 56, because 55 w/ solids, uses the smaller push rod. And if I'm reading this right all 56-57 use the longer push rod. I have the longer one in my 56, 3837004 block.

According to the 1929-57 Chevrolet Master parts catalog:

40-53 ALL w/216 ...... 10 7/16 long

41-55 ALL 6 cyl. (exc. 216, P.G.),
53-55 CORV. 6 cyl...... 10 3/4 long. FLAPS listing is 10.819" O.A.L. Part # RP3018. Priced as low as $2.20ea.

50-52 PASS. w/P.G. .... 11 1/4 long

53-55 PASS. 6 cyl. w/P.G.,
56-57 ALL 6 cyl..... 11 13/32 long. FLAPS listing is 11.474" O.A.L. Part # RP3020. Priced as low as $2.04ea.

I have one here at my desk out of a 58-62 series form the casting numbers, that measures 11-1/4", This is a 235 with Solid Lifters, Manual Transmission.

Birge