Shrinking push rods

[allrightmike]

  Has anyone out there been tempted to shorten Smith Bros push rods. I believe the ends are pressed in. Thought I might hold them in a lathe collet and somehow pull the cups off, or is this just nuts?

[Phil Brown]

Yea,but don't try to pull out the end. Cutaway the tube from the end then just tap the end down to where you cut the tube.

[allrightmike]

I did a version of that in the lathe. Had to shorten about .250 and had to bore the ID of the tube deeper so had to pull the tip out, came out EZ. I think they use a reamer originally so bore does not run true with OD of tube. Had to zero ID each one before boring. A lot of fooling around but they were new with just brake in time. Switching from Speed Master rockers to Harland sharp made this necessary. Thanks for the tip.