Andy Lowe Posted April 15 Report Posted April 15 Hi All. About to re-adjust my rocker arm gaps Again! seem to be doing this every 500 miles, is this normal? Can anyone suggest any upgrade that may be of use. I seem to remember some old fords had a stiff nut on the adjuster rather than a lock nut, is there any equivalent for the triumph? Should I replace the rocker arms with new? Look forward to your sage replies as usual. Kind regards.... Andy. Quote
RogerH Posted April 15 Report Posted April 15 Hi Andy are the gaps closing or opening. The standard lock nuts just simply work. I assume you do tighten the nuts very tight (I know you do) The problem with a stiff nut is that they tend to sit higher and there may not be enough room to allow for that. Replacing the arms with new is an expense way to solve a small problem. Roger Quote
Andy Lowe Posted April 16 Author Report Posted April 16 14 hours ago, RogerH said: Hi Andy are the gaps closing or opening. The standard lock nuts just simply work. I assume you do tighten the nuts very tight (I know you do) The problem with a stiff nut is that they tend to sit higher and there may not be enough room to allow for that. Replacing the arms with new is an expense way to solve a small problem. Roger Hi Roger. Yes read this with interest thanks. On further inspection I note that the lock nuts are all out of shape, never have been able to get a ring spanner on them! I wondered if they were some special size but now I realise I have been a bit limp wristed whilst tightening the lock nuts, probably because I can only get a worn open ended spanner on them. I'll get some new lock nuts ang give them a good old tweak next time. Thanks Roger, love a simple and cheap fix!! Quote
stuart Posted April 16 Report Posted April 16 3 hours ago, Andy Lowe said: Hi Roger. Yes read this with interest thanks. On further inspection I note that the lock nuts are all out of shape, never have been able to get a ring spanner on them! I wondered if they were some special size but now I realise I have been a bit limp wristed whilst tightening the lock nuts, probably because I can only get a worn open ended spanner on them. I'll get some new lock nuts ang give them a good old tweak next time. Thanks Roger, love a simple and cheap fix!! Make sure they are quality nuts as theres a lot of cheese out there. Stuart. Quote
Dale Moore Posted April 16 Report Posted April 16 I've had more than one of the nuts strip when tightening up the tappets (they are quite thin nuts) fortunately the thread on the tappets has always been fine Dale Quote
stuart Posted April 16 Report Posted April 16 4 minutes ago, Dale Moore said: I've had more than one of the nuts strip when tightening up the tappets (they are quite thin nuts) fortunately the thread on the tappets has always been fine Dale Hence my above comment. Stuart. Quote
Dale Moore Posted April 16 Report Posted April 16 Other than the 3 or 4 I've replaced, as far as I know, they are original to the engine. I do tend to overtighten. Don't want them to come loose after all 🤣 Dale Quote
Ian Vincent Posted April 16 Report Posted April 16 On 4/15/2026 at 4:18 PM, Andy Lowe said: Hi All. About to re-adjust my rocker arm gaps Again! seem to be doing this every 500 miles, is this normal? Can anyone suggest any upgrade that may be of use. I seem to remember some old fords had a stiff nut on the adjuster rather than a lock nut, is there any equivalent for the triumph? Should I replace the rocker arms with new? Look forward to your sage replies as usual. Kind regards.... Andy. What sort of condition are the rocker faces in? Rgds Ian Quote
Trumpy3 Posted April 24 Report Posted April 24 Just a warning on tightening the lock nuts. WE have a member that had an issue with his just purchased TR4. It went well when he purchased it but soon went off song. A number of members had a look with many comments regarding both fuel and ignition. At one club event run as a tune up session designed to help train members to do their own basic maintenance, we used this TR4 as an example. I attended this and watched John carry out the tune. Carbs, points, timing and tappets. All looked to go well. The car went well and the owner drove home happy but still not knowing just what the issue was. The car went off song again so I suggested that he bring the car to my place and I would fit a good known ignition system and if that did not fix it, then he could discount the ignition as the problem. He came over and I fitted another distributor, coil and leads. Then started to pull the plugs and was told they were new. I said they may be knew but a faulty new plug is not an unknown. Got to number 4 and it was indicating a lean mixture while the other three were sooty. that immediately told me the issue was not fuel or spark. If it was fuel, then 3 would also be effected. Pulled the rocker cover to check the tappets as that will effect the air flow. The first tappet that was ready to check was 4 intake. The gap was way to big and took about three full turns to get the gap correct. When I tried to tighten the lock nut, it would not budge without an abnormal amount of effort. I completed the setting and found all the others OK. A test run and subsequent use confirmed the engine was now running well. What was the problem? When john set the tappets and tried to lock the tappet, the nut felt tight but in fact the nut was loose and while all was well on start, the tappet would work loose after a while We fitted w new set of lock nuts. You do to need to tighten them up to two grunts past a hernia. They are only half the thickness of a standard nut but people treat the like a full nut. This over tightening can distort the nut and give a false reading and in fact leave the tappet loose as in this case. Quote
Andy Lowe Posted Friday at 08:20 AM Author Report Posted Friday at 08:20 AM On 4/16/2026 at 7:33 PM, Ian Vincent said: What sort of condition are the rocker faces in? Rgds Ian I did find a couple that wouldn't adjust with a feeler gauge so had to use a DTI rigged up to measure rocker movement compared to the good ones. This sorted the issue so I suspect those two must have an amount of indentation in them. Thanks for the tip. Quote
Andy Lowe Posted Friday at 08:22 AM Author Report Posted Friday at 08:22 AM On 4/16/2026 at 10:45 AM, stuart said: Make sure they are quality nuts as theres a lot of cheese out there. Stuart. Funnily enough, the replacements from Rimmer/Moss worked, but sizes across the 8 items bought was significant. The spanner sat nicely on six of them but two were smaller than the others. The threads were fine but the flats on the nut were about 1mm difference? A socket fitted ok luckily. Quote
PriceLes Posted Friday at 09:34 AM Report Posted Friday at 09:34 AM I have these ones, very nice quality. https://www.goodparts.com/product/roller-rocker-assembly-tr2-4-1-551-ratio/ Quote
Trumpy3 Posted Saturday at 05:35 AM Report Posted Saturday at 05:35 AM Yes, I run them but the over tightening is still a problem. They are only lock nut. The do not retain anything. Brian Quote
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