Put some S&S Quickies in my 98 RK during cam swap.
Started to chase the ticking, found the front tube thumping, witness marks on the rod.
I could spin it by hand and clearly see it swinging around.
Disassembled pushrod and checked two halves on glass, they seemed pretty close to straight.
threaded lower into upper and checked again, WAY off.
Kind of disappointed in the quality, one other one also a bit off when spun but nothing major.

Question 1: Low miles on the lifters and rods, say about 250. I am thinking for now I will swap this crooked lifter from the front exhaust (most extreme angle)
to the front intake, and swap that one to exhaust since it looks a lot closer to true. On an old bike swapping would be bad but Im thinking low miles its ok.
I also relieved the inner diameter of the tube where the crimp is (they are already cut to length per S&S)

Inquiry B: Anybody got a line on some reasonably priced QUALITY tapered collapsible rods? I have read about V-thunder but not quite ready to throw down $200 while waiting to see if S&S will at least send replacement Quickies.

I sure have learned a lot since I picked up my first neglected big-twin in the spring.
Lots of forum threads along the way. Great resource.

 

I went with custom length fixed pushrods for my Evo build for the same reason. They were cheaper as well.

 

The only decent "tapered" push rods I ever saw were Rivera TaperLite. They are the strongest ones ever made but are now only available thru Taiwan Ted (V-Twin) in standard length for 1340 Evo and show to be on back order.

Best bet is V-Thunder7002R or Bender Mfg.

Or an imitation TaperLite I've never used these so proceed with caution!

Be careful shopping around, TC rods are cheap and ads are often misleading. Good luck.

 

I got a set of these before from a friend on here. Great start up. The only complaint, I would not even say that, was that we went two "flats" past what they recommended.

Good product. I used them on a Wood 6 cam.

 

Which are you referring to? Rivera?

 

yes, Rivera. I thought I quoted the previous post.

 

Thanks Tee&Vee
I sent Rivera an e-mail. I can see they offer the purpose built exhaust rod. Reasonably priced too!
Hope they are available, I am bleeding down the straightest of my Quickies now, in the front exhaust position.
I am using the tube that I modified and I sanded the upper surface of the Quickie (it had a decently deep scratch)
it looks like it is much closer to true than the other. Time will tell.
Hope to start it soon and find out, I am working on resetting the Idle as well (another thread)

 

I once had the gold Rivera's in my High lift build with Beehive springs and the tubes had fracturing and they wore terribly in the rocker arms.. Had to replace both the pushrods and the rocker arms...

 

I would throw Smith Bros push rods into the mix. Very high quality. I'm putting them in my 96 end of year when I upgrade the lifters. They have two types of Evo rods so call them and tell them what you are doing and they will make a recommendation.

 

boy oh boy, the aftermarket is like the wild west. I will contact Smith Bros too. Thanks for your time.