Dmaxstore Connecting Rods

[OleBlackyLBZ]

I have never been able find any information on the Dmaxstore Performance connecting rods rated to safely handle 550-700 hp. Are these just modified lml rods to work in all year models or are they actually an aftermarket rod. I called and asked about them before I had my motor built but all they said was they had people running in that horsepower range sucessfully. I have been curious about them ever since.. I ended up just using lbz rods in mine cause I wasn't sure about them and did not wanna take a chance.

 

[Bdsankey]

I'm following this for the same reason. They don't look like anything special to me.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

Okay I sent them this message.. 06-16 Duramax Rods have proven themselves to hold 650-700 horsepower many times. I am wondering if these are re-worked stock rods or if they are actually stronger than stock.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

Their reply... Stock style rods, the next level up would be wagler, and then Carillo would be the best of the best

I continued to ask if they were machined lml rods but haven't gotten any more replys.

 

[Bdsankey]

So it would be safe to assume they are just rebushed/refurbished OEM rods with maybe ARP bolts? Who knows.


What I do know is that SoCal will sell good LBZ rods for a much better price than $900.

 

[D_Ferrante801]

I cant find the post via FB forum but someone bought a set and put it next to their OEM LML or LBZ ( cant recall from top of my head ) and was a identical. So probably safe to say it is a refurb or new rod IMHO.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

At a glance they looked like the lml rods to me, Lincoln Diesel sells brand new lml rods for $69.99 and Wagler sells re-furbished lbz rods for $25.00 each.

 

[TheBac]

Just keep saving your money and do it right the first time. Rods are not something to cheap out on......and I should know.

 

[KyleC4]

I have a set of lml rods In the garage. The Dmaxstore ones that are in the photo on their website look identical to them.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

Just keep saving your money and do it right the first time. Rods are not something to cheap out on......and I should know.

Tom was it you that bent a set of lbz rods?

 

[MAXX IT OUT]

I have LBZ rods in my build and so far they have last 50000 miles, on a 550-630HP and about 1000-1100 TQ tune 99% of the time, even when towing. Granted that was with a bigish single turbo and descent tuning. I didnt expect it to make it this far, and I think that with the compounds I now am running I will ended up kill them on my big tune.
In my Opinion, IF your less than 600HP, I would run LBZ rods, but anything from there up to 1000HP then get SoCal budget rods, if 1000HP+ then go with the best you can buy. Its not worth building two engines unless your like doing it and have the money to waste on machining.

 

[Bdsankey]

I have LBZ rods in my build and so far they have last 50000 miles, on a 550-630HP and about 1000-1100 TQ tune 99% of the time, even when towing. Granted that was with a bigish single turbo and descent tuning. I didnt expect it to make it this far, and I think that with the compounds I now am running I will ended up kill them on my big tune.
In my Opinion, IF your less than 600HP, I would run LBZ rods, but anything from there up to 1000HP then get SoCal budget rods, if 1000HP+ then go with the best you can buy. Its not worth building two engines unless your like doing it and have the money to waste on machining.

100% agree to the above. For the price, the SoCal rods are an amazing value.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

Verlon at ATP ran lbz rods on an lly tow rig for 30,000 miles on a 650hp tune with compounds seeing 40+ lbs boost for 2 and 3 minutes at a time. He cracked the de-lipped lly piston but the rods came out straight. Rob ran 675 for 4+ years on lbz rods with over 500 1/4 mile passes.. It's low rpm cylinder pressure that bends rods and if your tuner knows what he is doing they will live at 675-700 hp for a long time unless their just completely worn out. From what I have seen they start bending around 1300-1350 ft lbs.. I'm sittin right at 675/1250 with a fast spooling charger so I'm probably pushing it but I should be okay if I stop here.

 

[MAXX IT OUT]

Verlon at ATP ran lbz rods on an lly tow rig for 30,000 miles on a 650hp tune with compounds seeing 40+ lbs boost for 2 and 3 minutes at a time. He cracked the de-lipped lly piston but the rods came out straight. Rob ran 675 for 4+ years on lbz rods with over 500 1/4 mile passes.. It's low rpm cylinder pressure that bends rods and if your tuner knows what he is doing they will live at 675-700 hp for a long time unless their just completely worn out. From what I have seen they start bending around 1300-1350 ft lbs.. I'm sittin right at 675/1250 with a fast spooling charger so I'm probably pushing it but I should be okay if I stop here.

Yes you can remove all that low end power to make the rods last longer and thats what Mark did to my truck to make the engine live. At the end of the day you put a set of rods in and you can make more power under the curve instead of a big peak number.

 

[Bdsankey]

Verlon at ATP ran lbz rods on an lly tow rig for 30,000 miles on a 650hp tune with compounds seeing 40+ lbs boost for 2 and 3 minutes at a time. He cracked the de-lipped lly piston but the rods came out straight. Rob ran 675 for 4+ years on lbz rods with over 500 1/4 mile passes.. It's low rpm cylinder pressure that bends rods and if your tuner knows what he is doing they will live at 675-700 hp for a long time unless their just completely worn out. From what I have seen they start bending around 1300-1350 ft lbs.. I'm sittin right at 675/1250 with a fast spooling charger so I'm probably pushing it but I should be okay if I stop here.

Yes you can remove all that low end power to make the rods last longer and thats what Mark did to my truck to make the engine live. At the end of the day you put a set of rods in and you can make more power under the curve instead of a big peak number.

This. Can you make it live for awhile? Sure, but if your goal is over 600-650 I'd definitely start saving for a bottom end. Eventually you'll get there or find a way to load it hard enough where it bends a rod (IE sled pulling and the motor sucks down) on an 01-05 truck. These things just don't handle these big power numbers like a Cummins on a stock bottom end and it seems like most of the community doesn't want to accept that.


Plus, the added area under the HP/torque curves that you'll pick up by added low RPM cylinder pressure is insane when you compare a 675hp stock rod tune to a 675hp built motor tune.

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

There isn't much power if any removed under the curve on mine. And I worry more about breaking a crank than I do about bending a rod. This is the conclusion I came to....

Socal rods and motorsport pistons will both handle about 1,000 hp, SO If you put socal rods in then you might as well do mahle motorsports pistons or fingers instead of the budget friendly de-lipped lb7. If you have pistons and rods then your dumb not to put valve springs and pushrods and flexplate. If you have all that then your plumb stupid not to run billet main caps and possibly a girdle if you like that piece of mind so then you easily have a 1,000 hp capable motor. There is not a good place to stop.

I have a $5,900 longblock that has new mahle bearings, melling high performance oil pump, keyed cam & crank, Arp main & head studs and de-lipped lb7 pistons... It should hold 650 for a good long time. And I could buy 3 of them for what I can build a 1,000 hp motor that is just as likely to break a crank as mine is. For the guys only wanting 650 hp I personally think it's dumb to spend 12-15K dollars, especially with the crank isssues. When mine breaks I may have a different opinion but this is my thoughts for now

 

[Bdsankey]

There isn't much power if any removed under the curve on mine. And I worry more about breaking a crank than I do about bending a rod. This is the conclusion I came to....

Socal rods and motorsport pistons will both handle about 1,000 hp, SO If you put socal rods in then you might as well do mahle motorsports pistons or fingers instead of the budget friendly de-lipped lb7. If you have pistons and rods then your dumb not to put valve springs and pushrods and flexplate. If you have all that then your plumb stupid not to run billet main caps and possibly a girdle if you like that piece of mind so then you easily have a 1,000 hp capable motor. There is not a good place to stop.

I have a $5,900 longblock that has new mahle bearings, melling high performance oil pump, keyed cam & crank, Arp main & head studs and de-lipped lb7 pistons... It should hold 650 for a good long time. And I could buy 3 of them for what I can build a 1,000 hp motor that is just as likely to break a crank as mine is. For the guys only wanting 650 hp I personally think it's dumb to spend 12-15K dollars, especially with the crank isssues. When mine breaks I may have a different opinion but this is my thoughts for now

You'd be surprised how much torque/cylinder pressure is pulled out of your tune compared to a built motor truck. Mark has been around enough to know how far he can push them and is the pioneer of cylinder pressure tuning them. You'll 100000% bend a rod from HP before you snap the factory crank.


Cranks don't necessarily fail because of HP. They fail from dumb luck, their design, and fatigue loading/cycles. My OEM crank has gone north of 1k hp for the last 3 seasons, one of which was ~40-50 sled hooks and every one of them seeing 4500rpm+ with OEM main caps. Many others have pushed an OEM crank farther than I have. I know Nathan Bandstra made just north of 1700hp on his before it failed and his failure was due to him not bumping neutral at the end of the pulling track.


As for a budget engine, you can do it for not a ton more than you paid for an OEM long block as all the machining is 100% the same unless you add a girdle or billet mains. You don't need a girdle or billet mains to have a reliable engine for 700-800 IMO, you'd need a better rod and piston than OEM. The factory valve springs aren't awful and guys have ran more than 650hp through them many times (hell, I know I did it for 18k miles before my LLY decided to have the low compression mod) and there are more than a handful of big fuel S400 equipped trucks rolling around on stock valvetrain.

 

[Chevy1925]

There isn't much power if any removed under the curve on mine. And I worry more about breaking a crank than I do about bending a rod. This is the conclusion I came to....

Socal rods and motorsport pistons will both handle about 1,000 hp, SO If you put socal rods in then you might as well do mahle motorsports pistons or fingers instead of the budget friendly de-lipped lb7. If you have pistons and rods then your dumb not to put valve springs and pushrods and flexplate. If you have all that then your plumb stupid not to run billet main caps and possibly a girdle if you like that piece of mind so then you easily have a 1,000 hp capable motor. There is not a good place to stop.

I have a $5,900 longblock that has new mahle bearings, melling high performance oil pump, keyed cam & crank, Arp main & head studs and de-lipped lb7 pistons... It should hold 650 for a good long time. And I could buy 3 of them for what I can build a 1,000 hp motor that is just as likely to break a crank as mine is. For the guys only wanting 650 hp I personally think it's dumb to spend 12-15K dollars, especially with the crank isssues. When mine breaks I may have a different opinion but this is my thoughts for now

Do you just speak out of your ass or do you have actual info to show that you “need” what you say is “dumb not to have”. You jump all over Anthony about calling stock mahle replacements for lb7/lly pistons “junk” and here you are calling guys dumb for it doing something because it’s apparent you don’t know the limits of each part or where it needs changed.

Not everyone needs an all out build. Please show me how billet caps and girdle save an engine or even help at or under the 1000hp mark. There is only one area it MIGHT be worth it but let’s see what you got first.

I know quite a few engines running around with half of the stuff you say is required for a “reliable” engine and they are out getting beat to hell on every day or every weekend at the track

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

You'd be surprised how much torque/cylinder pressure is pulled out of your tune compared to a built motor truck. Mark has been around enough to know how far he can push them and is the pioneer of cylinder pressure tuning them. You'll 100000% bend a rod from HP before you snap the factory crank.


Cranks don't necessarily fail because of HP. They fail from dumb luck, their design, and fatigue loading/cycles. My OEM crank has gone north of 1k hp for the last 3 seasons, one of which was ~40-50 sled hooks and every one of them seeing 4500rpm+ with OEM main caps. Many others have pushed an OEM crank farther than I have. I know Nathan Bandstra made just north of 1700hp on his before it failed and his failure was due to him not bumping neutral at the end of the pulling track.


As for a budget engine, you can do it for not a ton more than you paid for an OEM long block as all the machining is 100% the same unless you add a girdle or billet mains. You don't need a girdle or billet mains to have a reliable engine for 700-800 IMO, you'd need a better rod and piston than OEM. The factory valve springs aren't awful and guys have ran more than 650hp through many times (hell, I know I did it for 18k miles before my LLY decided to have the low compression mod) and there are more than a handful of big fuel S400 equipped trucks rolling around on stock valvetrain.

I'm not concerned about being 50-75 ft lbs low on torque on the race tune, it shreds the tires on tune 4 at anything under about 40mph even with a rear locker, let alone the race tune. I was just meaning if you stay in that 1250 ft lbs torque range you may randomely break a crank or even crack a lb7 piston before you bend a rod, it's anyone's guess. Some cranks break at stock power, and it's rare but lb7 pistons have randomely broke. Lots of people run 650+ on bone stock lbz's, and almost every single time it's the pistons that go, mine went at 575/1050. The rods are almost always just fine. If I'm gonna start throwing aftermarket rods and more than $6,000 at a motor it's going to be built to hold 1,000 hp+. Otherwise I'd stick with the keys and lbz/lb7 combo and keep it under 1250 tq and be happy with 650. For pistons, rods, springs, pushrods and a flexplate I would have right at doubled my build cost. Then I'm still stuck at 650 unless I go bigger fuel and air which is 1000's more. I decided to be content with 650 haha (MY FRIENDLY & HUMBLE OPINION ONLY)

 

[OleBlackyLBZ]

Do you just speak out of your ass or do you have actual info to show that you “need” what you say is “dumb not to have”. You jump all over Anthony about calling stock mahle replacements for lb7/lly pistons “junk” and here you are calling guys dumb for it doing something because it’s apparent you don’t know the limits of each part or where it needs changed.

Not everyone needs an all out build. Please show me how billet caps and girdle save an engine or even help at or under the 1000hp mark. There is only one area it MIGHT be worth it but let’s see what you got first.

I know quite a few engines running around with half of the stuff you say is required for a “reliable” engine and they are out getting beat to hell on every day or every weekend at the track

As far as anthony I had no ill intentions and was just confused and he set me straight and I learned something I didn't know and he was very nice about it, if it seemed like I was jumping him then I'm sorry to Anthony...as far as the girdle and main caps I wasn't meaning to call anyone else dumb, I was saying I feel like I would be dumb for not biting the bullet and going that little bit extra for peace of mind and in case I wanted more later. I am not the type to randomely call others dumb but I do realize the way I worded that looked bad. So anyone out there running 1000hp on stock caps I'm sorry I wasn't talking about you.