Got my pushrods and trunnions today. Probably won't be able to install for another month. Went with Manton 7/16 pushrods and trunnions. When talking to the Manton folks they said 2 things that were interesting and IMO worth repeating:
1. On a Cummins, pushrods have always been the weakest link in the valvetrain. They have always had deflection problems, but the flat tappet cam and lifters aren't impacted like the hydraulic lifters. He said deflection is common because of how long the push rods are in a Cummins (11-12 inches vs 8 inches in Powerstroke / Duramax) - and the problem has become more common as folks have increased performance of their engines.
2. Manton guy thought the reason they went to hydraulic lifters is because of the EPA directive to try to get the engine noise down. Not sure the reason they went hydraulic, but I"m sure it's a poorly thought out implementation.
I"m just going pushrods and trunnions first to try to stop / hold off the issue as long as possible until I can convert to flat tappet cam. I don't have the time or money now to rip off the front of the truck and go through the install. So this is my 1-2 year solution (hopefully!) until then. I know I will have to get different pushrods for the Hamilton cam, but it's only a couple hundred bucks, and if I can stop (or greatly reduce) the damage going on until the cam swap, it's worth it. Getting my oil report back in a week or 2 - will be interesting.