A sliding friction- and wear-resistant elephant's foot or swivel pad adjusting screw assembly for contacting an actuating member interface in an internal combustion engine is provided to transmit arcuate motion into reciprocal motion. The assembly includes a metal screw element configured to move along an arcuate path in a correspondingly configured socket in a ceramic pad element. A retainer element secures the pad element to the screw element loosely to allow this relative motion. The ceramic pad element includes a planar contact face for contacting a corresponding planar contact surface on an internal combustion engine actuating member, such as a valve, a valve crosshead or a unit fuel injector.