Cam/tappet wear is one of the critical concerns in valve train deign. Maximum contact stress and minimum oil film thickness between the cam and tappet are usually checked for the estimation of wear characteristics. If the two extreme cases arise simultaneously, there is a strong possibility of cam/tappet wear. In this paper, effects of valve train layout on the wear characteristics were studied. Especially for swinging arm type valve trains, initial geometric layout must be very carefully defined to avoid wear problems. The study was performed fur an end pivot type OHC valve train, which had severe wear problems. Analysis results show that some geometric parameter affect very sensitively on the wear characteristics. Experiments were also performed for the original and modified valve trains, which strongly support the analysis results.