alright i have searched but can not find my answer. i am wanting to go through my motor this winter and wanted to know if an lbz rod is stronger than an lb7 rod. i have a dual fueler now and am going to install a big charger next year and i know the lb7 rod will bend what about an lbz. or should i just get some tts rods and be done. let me know what you guys think or have expierenced.

alright i have searched but can not find my answer. i am wanting to go through my motor this winter and wanted to know if an lbz rod is stronger than an lb7 rod. i have a dual fueler now and am going to install a big charger next year and i know the lb7 rod will bend what about an lbz. or should i just get some tts rods and be done. let me know what you guys think or have expierenced.

LBZ rods are supposed to be 10%-15% stronger. Im going to use a set in my motor but im going to stick with a single cp3. If your running dual fuelers and a bigger charger and use them to there full potential you will eventually bend the lbz rods. So you should probably go with a set of proven aftermarket rods. Doesnt seem to be enough testing on how much abuse the lbz rods will actually take. When I do my motor im gonna also put in 45% over injector nozzles and have the pistons cut to 16:1 compression to try to keep the rods straight. And twin turbos.

If you have dual fuelers and are going to have your motor torn down there is no question in my mind that I'd be putting a good aftermarket set of rods in while it was apart.

If I were going through all that, I would not skimp on the rods.

any more info, i just thought since everybody says lbz pistons are junk but we have been running a set for 2 years now in troy wakeman's truck with no problems.

any more info, i just thought since everybody says lbz pistons are junk but we have been running a set for 2 years now in troy wakeman's truck with no problems.

95% of the time a big charger and dual pumps is a recipe for a see through engine block. You can try it if you want but unless your tuning is excellent I doubt it will live but I've been wrong before. There is alot of big power stuff running around with cut and coated stock pistons but not many on a stock set of rods. JMO.

I think LBZ pistons are hit and miss. I have customers that have ran 500 rwhp tunes for 40-50K no problems, and I run one 530 rwhp tune for 7K miles and burn a hole in #4 piston. Total crap shoot. LBZ rods seem to be good to around 600hp reliably, and some have run up to 700 hp on them, but if you were going through all the expense, rods would be the last thing I skimp on. No reason to be in the bottom end to build a race/pull motor w/o putting in Rods, imho.

LBZ rods are decent , but they have been bent before . if you plan on dual fuelers i would go with a real rod . The lbz's are a great choice for a 650 hp truck IMOP but i wouldnt go much more unless your willing to possibly redo it in a few months :eek: it might hold for a while but it will fail eventually .

I would put a set of good Rods in. Spray pattern in tuning i think can help the lbz pistons, and how they are cut. But as far as rods go, more power=bent rods. Or you could just be the first one to try:D After 2 seasons of dual fuelers, and one with a 4088 charger, all of my rods were still straight, but i wouldnt risk it with a bigger charger.

Troy may run LBZ piston, but what rods does he run? not LBZ. Ric scrimager and Micheal tomac took care of the LBZ rod testing for everyone. Just get crowers or whomevers and be done with it while its apart. Even if i did nothing else to one i was rebuilding it would get good rods and a keyed cam and crank.

Tunning plays a huge role in the piston cracking. I belive more have cracked with stock turbos and injectors from high timming and big pulse width. LBZ rods if you stay with a single pump I think with the right tune it will be fine but would recomend a good set of injectors to help.

No question. Aftermarket rods.

Troy may run LBZ piston, but what rods does he run? not LBZ. Ric scrimager and Micheal tomac took care of the LBZ rod testing for everyone. Just get crowers or whomevers and be done with it while its apart. Even if i did nothing else to one i was rebuilding it would get good rods and a keyed cam and crank.that is what my plans are after researching, tts rods, cut and coated stock pistons, keyed crank and cam, ati balancer and rings and bearings and i will be out of cash. i would love to put a cam in but the cam is cheap its just all the extra stuff you have to get for them!!

that is what my plans are after researching, tts rods, cut and coated stock pistons, keyed crank and cam, ati balancer and rings and bearings and i will be out of cash. i would love to put a cam in but the cam is cheap its just all the extra stuff you have to get for them!!


Awwww..... With all that money you make! Why don't you build mine too.

I bent a set of lbz rods a "little bit" with 700 rwhp. Since you are building a motor I'd just go with billet rods.

that is what my plans are after researching, tts rods, cut and coated stock pistons, keyed crank and cam, ati balancer and rings and bearings and i will be out of cash. i would love to put a cam in but the cam is cheap its just all the extra stuff you have to get for them!!

how about head studs and main studs?

how about head studs and main studs?yeh i planned on that also, just didn't include it :o:

What about with well mod'd single CP3 and a GT4094 or an HTT?? I'm needing rods and want Carrillo's but LBZ's might work :rolleyes:. Later on I could swap budget build into tow rig and build real sled pulling motor. haha

I would put a set of good Rods in. Spray pattern in tuning i think can help the lbz pistons, and how they are cut. But as far as rods go, more power=bent rods. Or you could just be the first one to try:D After 2 seasons of dual fuelers, and one with a 4088 charger, all of my rods were still straight, but i wouldnt risk it with a bigger charger.

What about Cryo treating some?

When i built my engine, I couldn't swing the good rods at the time so i cryo treated an entire LBZ rotating assembly to build my engine with. Don't quote me on this but I think there was only about 1/2 of a gram weight difference in the two rods on the top end but since i cut .040 off my pistons, this kind of off set the weight difference. I wanna say that the center of the rod itself was about .020 - .030 thicker on the LBZ rods than the LB7 but i dont remember for sure since it was a few months ago. If you can do a good set of Billet Rods, definately do it but if you are on a budget the LBZ Rods are better than the LB7's. Just make sure you get it balanced :D

Since this thread is about rods....I am wondering how hard it would be to machine a set of rods out of 4340 and make them shorter so the need to cut the pistons would be gone. Would this help keep the strength of the piston? just wondering.

Since this thread is about rods....I am wondering how hard it would be to machine a set of rods out of 4340 and make them shorter so the need to cut the pistons would be gone. Would this help keep the strength of the piston? just wondering.

There would be a clearance issue with the piston against the rotation of the crank. It's tight enough as it is but when you shorten a rod, you bring the piston skirt closer the counter weights so depending on how much you shorten the rods, you may wind up doing some extensive crank/piston work. This is my take on it but if anyone else knows anythign i dont, please feel free to chime in

If that were a problem could you just take cut the bottom of the piston or would this also make it weaker? I work In a machine shop and have been wondering if it would be possible to make my own rods and get them heat treated. I Don't really want to spend $2500+ on connecting rods If I don't have to. Plus it would be neat if I could say I made them myself.

If that were a problem could you just take cut the bottom of the piston or would this also make it weaker? I work In a machine shop and have been wondering if it would be possible to make my own rods and get them heat treated. I Don't really want to spend $2500+ on connecting rods If I don't have to. Plus it would be neat if I could say I made them myself.
When they cut pistons they dont usually take much off outside the bowl area and removing the "lip" , unless you really wanted a low compression ratio .

I see. Do you guys think it would be a bad idea to try and make rods?

I see. Do you guys think it would be a bad idea to try and make rods?

It would be interesting and pretty cool to see the process but there is a lot more to it than just machining out a chunk of steel. For the amount of time you will put into making them and possibly have something go wrong, it would probably be better to just save up for that same amount of time and buy the rods that have been proven to work. Of course if you want a project and dont really care about initial reliability, have at it and let us know how it works out! :D Who knows? You may end up a pretty successful engine builder

I see. Do you guys think it would be a bad idea to try and make rods?

Ask Duratothemax about that :D

Ask Duratothemax about that :D

I knew that was coming... :D

I knew that was coming... :D

Not saying somebody couldn't make their own (I even thought about it), but it's way too risky.

The following is what can happen is you make a slight miscalculation.
http://http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c247/penguin1494/IMG_0828Custom.jpg

http://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/showpost.php?p=127060&postcount=28

Leadfoot it wouldn't let me view that thread you posted even though I was logged in. If I decide to make rods, I plan on getting another block to play with. There is a fairly well known diesel tractor pulling engine builder in my town and I would take the rods there to have them honed (don't know the correct term) to ensure they are all the same length. We deal with a heat treating facility that can nitride, carburize and shot peen them. I know there are risks involved, but that is what would make it fun.

No don't or I'll have to close this thread :rolleyes: :( and none of us want that.

On topic I've been told there is a machine shop in MO that can make them but don't have any info or anything. Came from a reliable source though, IMO.

Ask Duratothemax about that :D

Im running lmm (same thing) rods. I dont think i'm going to push it above the 500hp mark. Even if they are marginally stronger. LBZs do also have lower compression ratio, so thats prolly another reason people think there more stout.

No don't or I'll have to close this thread :rolleyes: :( and none of us want that.

On topic I've been told there is a machine shop in MO that can make them but don't have any info or anything. Came from a reliable source though, IMO.


Why would you have to close the thread? :rolleyes: Its good info people should know, so someone doesnt make a stupid mistake and cost them a lot of money. I dont understand the point in not being able to talk about mistakes that were made in the past, arent you suppose to learn from mistakes? Making your own rods is not a smart idea in my opinion, in some cases they wont even hold up to the stockers.

I said don't bring Ben into this thread,nothing else. He comes in here and it will likely get closed because he bashes Nick rather than stating facts.
They didn't hold up because some dumbass screwed Nick on those rods. My buddy Tom had those same rods but you don't see him on here bashing like Ben did. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Now I suggest we get back to the topic of LBZ rods.

Why would you have to close the thread? :rolleyes: Its good info people should know, so someone doesnt make a stupid mistake and cost them a lot of money. I dont understand the point in not being able to talk about mistakes that were made in the past, arent you suppose to learn from mistakes? Making your own rods is not a smart idea in my opinion, in some cases they wont even hold up to the stockers.

I said don't bring Ben into this thread,nothing else. He comes in here and it will likely get closed because he bashes Nick rather than stating facts.
They didn't hold up because some dumbass screwed Nick on those rods. My buddy Tom had those same rods but you don't see him on here bashing like Ben did. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Now I suggest we get back to the topic of LBZ rods.


The seller has to take responsibility, no matter who makes them. Did you buddy tom destroy a motor? If so sorry to hear. Oh and thanks for the suggestion.:rolleyes:

He had to redo his as well :(.

The seller has to take responsibility, no matter who makes them. Did you buddy tom destroy a motor? If so sorry to hear. Oh and thanks for the suggestion.:rolleyes: