Does anybody have any information on what year Suzuki started using hard welded rocker arm pads on our bikes?

My bike is a 96 savage that was bone stock, never touched with the exception of a jardeen muffler added by the previous owner. After I purchased the bike I bobbed it immediately and have been changing things here and there. One of those changes I made was purchasing a head and valve cover off of, I believe, a 2006 model that only had 6k miles on it. I'm putting a stage 3 cam in it from LANCER and he recommended me add hard welded rockers from a newer model S40. The rockers that are in my "new" head have the rocker arm pads that are brazed on whereas the 96 head has rocker arms that have the pad area machined into the rocker arm, meaning no brazed on pad.

On Partzilla.com, where I get all my OEM fasteners and what have yous, there are 2 different styles of rocker arms you can purchase. I assume these are either the old style or the new style. Is there any other "newer" style that Suzuki did or did they just do one change on the rocker arm pads and that's it?

I'm assuming that if the rocker arms have the brazed on pad then they are the hard welded version and I'm good to go. I just want to be sure.

The rockers with the hardened pads show up in the parts list for the 2005 models.....the previous years did not have the pad.  The pads are brazed on the rockers.

The "hard weld" rockers are done by WebCam....and they want $125 each to do that.  Don't bother........the later Suzuki ones work just fine.

The early rockers works fine as long as you use a good oil with at least 1,000 ppm of ZDDP......Youzguyz has 200,000 miles on his rockers and cam and at 160,000 miles they looked great!  This forum recommends Rotella T, 15W-40....you can choose between Dino or Synthetic.

However - if you use the wrong oil or let the bike sit on the side stand and idle.....they don't last long at all.  I replaced a pair of rockers on a 2002 with only 3,800 miles on it - the previous owner liked to start the bike up in the winter and let it idle on the side stand once a month!

If both the intake and exhaust were worn and the cam lobes were worn as well.....and the cam bearings were in good shape - I suspect the previous owner was not using an oil with enough ZDDP.

If the right side rocker was worn more than the left side, and the right side cam bearing was wor......then I suspect idling the bike excessively while on the side stand might be the issue.

Be sure to use a good quality Break In oil if you are installing a fresh piston/cylinder or a new cam (and use the cam lube supplied with the cam....or buy some).  Break in oil is generally 30 weight, and has lower detergent and no multi-viscosity additives so that there are less additives taking up the place of the oil molecules - and it has a high amount of ZDDP.  I also spray the cam lobes and rocker faces with a graphite lubricant when  assemble them (and so do Nascar engine builders).

https://www.amazon.com/Brad-Penn-Oil-009-7120S-Engine/dp/B002RF8IN2