258 rocker arms, cast or stamped?

I am having a ticking issue with my 258 in a 1975 CJ5. After replacing the cam and lifters, I have a ticking noise coming from the rocker arms at idle. several of the rocker arms appear to be slightly loose.

The original rocker "bridges" are "cast". I ordered a new set of bridges and rockers from Napa and the new "bridges" are stamped steel. I installed them and they are worse. (looser)

All of the push rods appear to be the same length and in good shape.

Does anyone know anything about the "cast" bridge vs "stamped"? Any other ideas?

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1975 CJ5
Des Moines, Iowa

 

This is what comes up for 75 258


I assume you got the wrong parts

 

That is exactly what the new parts look like.

The "original" ones are 1 piece cast.

 

Here is what the "original" cast rocker bridges look like.

Wondering if anyone knows if the are suposed to be interchangeable?

 

Did you try assembling with the new parts? How are the clearances? Its likely that they are interchangeable and this is an updated design.

 

the three piece set-up replaces the one piece design
too easy to break the one piece design during installation
do you have an engine build code ?

 

Where do I find the build code?

 

I too need to replace some rockers on my '73 along with at least one lifter. My bridges are the stamped ones and do just fine.

By the way, does anyone know if the rocker itself on a '74 will fit a '73 also? I don't seem to find anything specifically mentioned for the '73 and need a few.

 

The engine build-date code is stamped into the block, passenger side middle.

I recall '73 was an odd year, where they went with a rocker arm shaft and cast rocker arms for all or part of the year. Likely a '73 is not covered because you can't tell which design it is without pulling the valve cover. You might get better information if you look at the actual Sealed Power catalog. RockAuto shows the cast arm and a rocker arm shaft for '73 and earlier. Your engine could have been built in the part of the year when they were using the stamped rockers, or it could be a replacement head. Pretty sure you can use the '74 parts if you have the bridged rockers.