Hey guys, I need a little help here on something that is probably general knowledge to most gear heads. I hydro-locked my engine and managed to strip the spark plug, so I removed the head when I re tapped the spark plug hole. The push rods came out upon removal and I'm not too sure which hole to place each into. Also, the guy from vanguard said one would be steel and one aluminum... My magnet says otherwise, they both look alike and seem to be aluminum. In any regard, the bottom of the area in which the push rods go into have two holes on each side, one with a raised chamfer, one with a depressed chamfer. What is the recommended placement of these rods to these two holes? pictures are attached. Thanks guys

Second picture is what I'm questioning. That's what you see when you look down

Two things, did you pull the head when you retapped the hole? If not, you may have metal shavings in your chambers.

When you stand both pushrods up, are they the same length? Are the diameters of the tips the same?

Both are the same length, the heads are slightly different, with the darker tip being fatter and longer by a tad. And head was removed for tapping

Finally found a Briggs rep who understood what I was hinting at. He informed me both rods are the same, one just has more wear. He wasn't able to tell me which port gets the rod in the flanged hole and which port gets the rod in the indented/pressed hole. any ideas? Is intake usually facing the muffler side or the flywheel side? And is the intake hole the indented hole or the raised/flanged hole?

I am going to take a stab and say that the valve closer to the exhaust port is the exhaust valve. Intake would be the one closest to the intake port.
I am not sure from how your last post was worded that this what you are asking...

If your assumption is correct, that would answer half of my question. in the second picture you can see two holes in which the push rod can rest in. Id imagine one hole is for the intake side, and one for the exhaust. I just don't know which is which

Any idea guys?

If you look at your last pic showing your motor the valve/rocker arm closest to the carb is the intake and the one closest to the exhaust port is the exhaust rocker both rods should seat on a tappett directly below the rocker arm


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If your in doubt pull the pull cord slowly (with the spark plug removed) while looking down into where the pushrods should seat. the tappets should move as you pull, those are what you should stick the pushrods in


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Maybe this will help


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Just wanted to say thanks for the help guys. It was super simple once I knew to look for the tappets moving. For any newbies like me, the holes in which the pushrods seat into have the metal collar and move up and down. Thanks Hotsauce!

Your welcome man


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