Eagle rods losing feathers

[427 S/O]

To date, I talked to three people whose EAGLE rods have failed, one on the dyno and two on the street.
Two of the three said they stretched and came apart on the lower end.
Anyone have similar news?

[Mr.Fixit]

I have seen two of them fail. Both broke a rod bolt. Can't blame the con-rod when the bolts let go. I blame a big heavy piston turning too much RPM for the rod bolts to hold onto. Eagle rods are pretty good, but they are no Carillo's. Eagle's are made in china.

[Back in Black]

Have the eagle rods, and ARP bolts. Not too happy to find out they are Chinese made tho

[eric hinderberg]

We have had two of the Eagle I beam rods fail on our dyno. We have never had much trouble with the H- beam type. The problem we had was with the finish work of the rods,and also the crankshafts. These parts are not drop in items. I have found the Scat components to be far superior in quality and workmanship.

[Jeff Frigo]

Welcome to the world economy. I don't give a $hit what anybody says, China is a friggin joke.

[kountzecobra]

Amen Jeff!

[427 S/O]

Believe I''ll dust off those thirty year old
C7's

[CSX 4027]

I opted for the Manleys that were indestructable and available.

The Eagle are imported $HIT.

The Carrillo's are the way to go but you usually have to wait.

[Back in Black]

I have several rebuildable 460 blocks just waiting to become monster replacements if she donna make it

[Mr.Fixit]

Their conrods require resizing right out of the box. Their cranks need fillet work, and the bearing journals are not really round out of the box either (so the machinest tells me). Better than remachind factory parts, but you only get what you pay for.

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by Jeff Frigo


Welcome to the world economy. I don't give a $hit what anybody says, China is a friggin joke.

But we keep encouraging them to make more and more of our products - why??

Regards,

Keith

[COBRA427]

A while back, one of you guys mentioned Eagles were made in China, and my heart stopped. I did some research to see if this was true, and found out that they are forged in China and finished in the USA. The bad news was I had ordered a set of Eagles, and there was no way I'd put Chinese crap in my new motor. I immediately contacted my engine builder to cancel the order. My new motor will be sporting a set of Manley's now.I also will be writing a letter to Eagle telling them what I have done, and that I don't appreciate or use Chinese garbage in my motors. The difference in cost between the two sets of rods was only $165.00. I did the right thing and it feels good.
Ed

[SFfiredog]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if you are concerned about buying or using products from overseas you're in big trouble. If you insist on buying 100% made in USA, then get off the computer you are on right now (forign-made parts, you know)
Throw away your cell phone, home phone, pager, fax machine, TV, VCR, stereo, all your house appliances, your car (hell, even if you have an original Cobra, that POS was made in ENGLAND!)
your shoes and clothes, and walk naked (can't fly or take a bus or train, more forign parts) to Pennsylvania and buy a wagon from the Amish. That's about the only thing that I could even half-way gaurentee is 100% made in the USA. We are part of a global economy, like it or not.
Please don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!
--Mike

PS. My motor has Oliver rods

[SFfiredog]

Originally posted by Mr.Fixit


I have seen two of them fail. Both broke a rod bolt. Can't blame the con-rod when the bolts let go. I blame a big heavy piston turning too much RPM for the rod bolts to hold onto. Eagle rods are pretty good, but they are no Carillo's. Eagle's are made in china.

I just re-read your post and it struck me. The only part of the rod that broke IS the only part made in the USA (ARP 8470)
ARP makes excellent products. They are the only brand of bolt I use. It would not surprize me to find the bolts were not torqued properly (stretch method) and that's why they failed. I personally and machine shop I use have used dozens of Eagle rods and when sized properly (they always come delivered at the minimum clearance spec) and torqued properly have never had a failure, even in high RPM and high horsepower applications.

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by SFfiredog


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if you are concerned about buying or using products from overseas you're in big trouble. If you insist on buying 100% made in USA, then get off the computer you are on right now (forign-made parts, you know)
Throw away your cell phone, home phone, pager, fax machine, TV, VCR, stereo, all your house appliances, your car (hell, even if you have an original Cobra, that POS was made in ENGLAND!)
your shoes and clothes, and walk naked (can't fly or take a bus or train, more forign parts) to Pennsylvania and buy a wagon from the Amish. That's about the only thing that I could even half-way gaurentee is 100% made in the USA. We are part of a global economy, like it or not.
Please don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!
--Mike

PS. My motor has Oliver rods

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that we give up foreign made goods - I for one doubt that the public would put up with the increased costs - but free trade and fair trade are not necessarily the same. In fact, while I am generally for the free trade concept, I do have problems with countries that subsidize their manufacturing or agriculture companies. I don't want to pick on any one area, but the US props up some agriculture prices (and Europe is much worse), just as an example. Korea and China have virtually subsidized manufacturing bases. Who do you think bailed out Korea an few years back (IMF-funded by who - USA) - Go figure.

Keith

[427 S/O]

SF, I made no mention that the bolts gave loose!, had that been the case these people would have blasted ARP.
I torque mine three times before final set and buy new ones on the next rebuild.

[BamaBrett]

The last set of Eagle rods that I looked at had little gold labels on them with the words "Made In China." That scared me. No Chinese junk is going in my engine !!! Especially vital connecting rods !!!

An Eagle rod broke in my friend's Mustang GT-350. About a year ago. His 351-W only had 1400 miles on it at the time. A damn shame. Unfortunately, his engine builder neglected to tell him his rods were made in China or that the quality was going down hill.

Can't we draw the line here, fellas ??? Let China make electronic gizmos. That's fine with me. On the other hand, I don't want Chinese junk in a high performance engine. I want high quality, made in America. I'll pay more if I have too.


Y'all take it easy now, Brett

[RACER X #99]

I don't know if Eagle rods are lousy quality or not but I'll bet more than one Eagle rod failure had more to do with poor assembly practices than the failure of the rod itself.

Could somebody post a list of American made connecting rods that have never failed?

Thanks,
Cranky

[Sizzler]

I use Crower rods.

I think the Amish might be using foreign iron on their wagons.

I agree that foreign supply of parts is necessary. I don't like the idea that the cost savings are at the expense of the workers' health and well-being though. There should be some sort of limit on the countries we're allowed to use for off-shore manufacturing based on criteria that includes some human-rights/treatment.

My opinion.

[coyled]

There are many people that use the eagle rod as they are low cost. With lots of eagle rods out there, just by the numbers, more will break. I agree with cranky in that when a rod breaks, it is usually an oil preasure problem. I went with oliver rods, just in case, and corrillo's are an excellent choice also. But, they do cost more. Scott