Rocker Arm Insertion

[vlittle]

When I removed the #3 cylinder from my IO-540, I made a mental note to make sure the rocker shaft was inserted before reinstalling the cylinder. There is not enough clearance between cylinders to remove or insert the shaft with the cylinder in place.

So a few weeks later, a reworked cylinder arrived and with the help of a local mechanic, reinstalled it. But... you guessed it... I forget to pre-install the rocker shaft.

I stared at it for a few moments, not wanting to remove the cylinder again, and then I had an idea! I removed the valve cover, valves and rocker shaft from the #1 cylinder, pushed the #3 rocker shaft all the way through the #1 bushings right into the #3 cylinder bushing whereupon I installed the #3 rocker arms. Hooray! After reinstalling #1's stuff, I was done.

Now, what are the odds that a lycosaurs adjacent cyclinders would align by a few thousands of an inch? Hats off to Lycoming for this one.