I have seen a lot of problems on here with 4.7l engines dropping their rocker arms. I am having that problem. Any way to fix it or find out what it is coming from? I bought two new ones that are a little different than the ones that I took out. The slot where the roller sets is a little longer than the original ones. Is that an upgrade that will help if I change the others? I bought this truck last week with a miss and found two off on one cylinder and one off of another. Got it back together, ran perfect. No engine noise at all. Let it set a couple of days and when I went to crank it up had lifter noise and missing again. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I like the truck.

 

Normally it is because of excessive and worn valve train parts like you have already noticed

 

I don't think the parts are worn out. The engine looks clean and doesn't show wear. The new rocker arms are made a little different. I was wondering were they updated parts. Does the cam follower (part that the other end of the rocker arm sets on) Get out of adjustment? Take time to pump up? I didn't pay it a lot of attention. A mechanic told me he as put a machine washer under the spring on the valve stem.
Would that help by putting a little more tension on the arm? Would it cause premature wear? I'm ready to take it back down today but don't know what I can do when I get it there. Thanks.

 

Check your push rods, these aren't the strongest out there and can get slightly bent with age, that's all it takes to drop a rocker. I think that may be why your mechanic friend used the washer, to make up for a slightly bent push rod...

 

Thanks. This is a roller engine. Has overhead cam with rocker arm just sitting under it on top of the valve stem on one end and a cam follower on the other end. Don't know much about the cam follower. Are they hydraulic tensioners for the rocker arm?
I think I am loosing the arms when the engine is first cranked up, before all the oil pressure gets around. Wonder if I put it back together and switch to 5w20 oil and a filter with a valve in it, and just let it idle for about 30 seconds before I head out with it. Will it work. When I put it back together the first time and had all cylinders firing well, it ran like a champ, very smooth, no engine noise at all. I went down the road and wound it up to about 3000 rpm a couple of times and it did great. Again, I think my problem comes in when it is first cranked up after a day or two set.
Thanks with any help.

 

DUH!!! My bad, completely missed that it was a 4.7, I just assumed Hemi. I should probably READ the title and the entire post instead of just skimming thru and answering as many as I can when I get online.

 

No problem at all. I bought two new rocker arms and they are designed a little different than the originals. My dodge parts man said the part numbers were superceded twice so maybe they are redesigned to help this problem. Anybody know anything about that. I can get the other 14 new ones for about $200 and would gladly throw that at the problem if it would fix it. Thanks.

 

Yeah, I picked up on the '03 and knowing the '03 Hemi suffered from weak springs and push rods, I just went on like it was a Hemi, LOL.

But the fact that Mopar changed part numbers like that would throw a red flag up with me. Although I've not really heard of the issue being widespread before, I'd prolly throw the newer designed ones in and hope that did the trick.

I've got the 4.7 but the HO version in my Grand Cherokee, a lot of upgraded parts over the standard 4.7, such as stronger springs, floating wrist pins on the connecting rods instead of the press type, forged crank, different cam, larger injectors, etc. but I think the rocker arms are the same. Mine is quiet as can be, no lifter noise whatsoever...

 

1 st. the 4,7L engine has a oil pump that is to small. Additionally, this engine has numerious oiling problems. The first place to look is the auto-adjust stansions that the rocker arm piviot on. Any oiling problem exagerates the oiling problem at this unit. You could replace them with new OEM type units and/or replace them with mechanical adjusters from Ramair.com. The mechanical adjusters WILL eliminate this problem.
Regards

 

Are you sure this will fix this? I've having severe issues with my 4.7 '04 dakota. It's tossed 3 rockers in the passed month and no one seems to know exactly what the problem. Each time starts with top end ticking on start up that goes away on warm up for about 10 starts. Then ends up tossing the rocker arm. Seems to happen on random cylinders and always on start up. Makes sense that it's due to poor oil delivery to the top end on start up.