Yea I did oil the dowels, and lightly tapped with a rubber mallet. They are just extremely tight after they've been torqued. By the time I can finally get them off they smear the plastigauge. I didn't move the crank at all during this procedure. 2 trys on each rod and got the same results. I'll try again tomorrow, if nothing else ill just buy an inside micrometer. I never had this problem with OEM rods!