There's one big, common misconception about roller rocker arms...

Too many people today think the term roller rocker refers the the roller tip on the rocker arm. This misconception probably comes from roller lifters, as the ends of the lifters have a roller tip that does provide a performance benefit.

The truth is, the tip of the rocker arm has nothing to do with whether a rocker arm is a roller or not.

The term "roller rocker" refers to the fulcrum of the rocker arm. Before the LS-series engines came out (and excluding the LT4 Corvette engine), factory small block rockers used a pivot ball as the fulcrum. This design is fine for stock applications (as evidenced by the thousands of small blocks with hundreds of thousands of miles on them with the stock rockers!) but does hinder performance because of increased friction.

A roller rocker has a shaft fulcrum that rides on a pair of roller bearings. (See Photo) This design reduces the friction of the rocker arm's pivot point, and frees up horsepower, usually 10-20 HP depending on application. The roller fulcrum is constantly oiled from the oil flow that comes through the pushrod to make sure of long life and reduced friction.

Now, for the more advanced guys out there, if you're gonna mention bearing inertia, relax, I'll address that one in a later blog post!