They do this. Briggs wants you to replace the head officially, but they are easily repaired. Clean the threads in the head and rocker stem with carb spray or other solvent. Once dry, lock them in w/ red loctite. Set the Intake at .003" and the exhaust at .005" 1/4" past top dead center after the intake valve closes. When securing the adjuster, just tighten the set screw securely. If you feel it problematic, clean it and use a touch of blue loctite.

Tom, great to see you here, thank you. You set me on the right path many years ago when I first bought this machine, though the forum was of a different name then. If you are ever down in Costa Rica, I owe you a full-day guided tour, for you and your wife, in my car.

A lot of Briggs engines use a steel exhaust and aluminum intake push rod. They used this combo for cutting production cost..

The aluminum intake rod are well known or failure at a small hole next to the top where it rides on the guide that passes through the cylinder head.

Now both push rods are the same length and diameter. and can be easily mixed up when taken out.. Most people, Myself included will buy and install steel push rods on the intake side when one gets bent.

Hmmm. Use what you like but there are a few things askew with your push rod theory. First thing I would think that an aluminum rod would be more expensive to produce than steel. Could be wrong there. Just judging by material and labor costs in working with aluminum. The reasoning for Briggs to use an aluminum alloy rod on the valve used for the compression release deals with the expansion qualities and the lightness of the rod. This helps maintain a more even lash and is also somewhat easier on the ACR itself. There are a few reasons for bent push rods, but most commonly migrating valve guides in the cylinder head or excessively loose rockers.