Swapped out my lifters yesterday for a set of the woods lifters, soaked them in oil the day before installing. Long story short. Can't get them to bleed off. I set the rear pushrods at ,130 and waited, waited some more. After 4 hrs, the pushrods still didn't spin freely. So I backed them all the way off, and reset them to ,125 . Left them overnight.. Just checked and they still don't spin freely.
Any ideas? Maybe bottom them out and back off a couple turns?
Using Rivera pushrods which are 40 tpi so ,25 per turn

 

are you sure that the lifter is pump up, just soaking them in oil somtimes wont pump them up, I have to use my "C" press in oil to pump them up, you might be bottoming them out when you adjust?

 

^^^ yup adjust to spec and start it up . Might take a minute to pump up

 

So just set to spec, and start it? Even though they don't spin freely?

 

The pushrods spin freely until you reach Zero lash and begin to compress the internal spring of the lifter. If you soaked the lifter in oil it will not collapse quickly so you are lifting the valve as you make your adjustment. Set zero lash and adjust per your pushrod or lifter spec then wait before rotating engine. You are waiting for lifter to releaswe any oil pressure and collapse so you don't bend a valve while you bring the next lifter to bottom on the cam. Follow the directions, watch the lifter go up and down then rotate a little more to be sure it is down.

 

That's the problem, I've waited almost 24 hrs and the lifters won't bleed down
They act like there bottomed out, but from zero lash i adjusted .125

 

From Harley Bulletin for replacing stock non-adjustable with adjustable pushrods
http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...ts/-J04545.pdf

ADJUSTMENT

Hydraulic Tappets

1. Disconnect the battery, negative (-) battery cable first,
following the instructions in the appropriate Service
Manual.

NOTE
When removing the stock pushrods as described in Step 2, do
not cut pushrods using a method that creates metal debris,
which may end up in the engine (such as using a hacksaw or
die grinder). Severe damage may result.

2. Remove stock pushrods using a bolt cutter.
3. Place the motorcycle on a hydraulic center stand with the
rear wheel raised off the ground. Remove spark plugs.
4. With transmission in gear, use rear wheel to turn engine
over until both front cylinder tappets are at their lowest
point.
5. Replace O-rings, lower pushrod cover and spring cover
keeper with new components supplied in kit.
6. See Figure 1. Loosen locknut on all of the pushrods and
adjust them to their shortest length.
7. Install pushrods with pushrod covers. Be sure adjuster
end of pushrod is down and ball end of adjuster is in tappet
socket.
8. For hydraulic tappets or solid tappets, follow the appropriate

Adjustment procedure.

NOTE
Pushrod adjustment must be made with engine cold.

1. Adjust pushrod length to zero clearance. -(The lifter is This is the point the pushrod no longer is looseand you begin pushing the lifter plunger in-SCRMNVTWINS)
2. See Figure 1. Mark the flats of the adjuster closest to the
alignment mark (3) to aid in counting the number of turns.
Keep the pushrod tube from rotating with a 1/2 inch or
adjustable wrench and slowly turn the adjusting screw with
a 5/16 inch wrench 2-1/2 complete turns counterclockwise
(lengthening the pushrod) as viewed from the bottom.
3. Hold adjusting screw and tighten locknut with 1/2 inch
open end wrench against the pushrod tube. If pushrod
turns with locknut, use three open end wrenches, one to
hold the pushrod tube, one to hold adjusting screw and
one to turn locknut.

NOTE
Wait 10 minutes before turning engine over after adjusting front
or rear cylinder pushrods. This will allow tappets to bleed down
and prevents the pushrods or valves from bending. Pushrods
should turn freely and valves must be on their seats (closed)
before turning over engine.

4. Wait 10 minutes. With transmission in gear, use rear wheel
to turn engine over until both rear cylinder tappets are at
their lowest position.
5. Repeat Steps 4 through 8 in the Installation section and
Steps 1 through 4 of this procedure for the rear cylinder.
6. Install pushrod spring cap retainers on pushrod covers.

Install spark plugs and return transmission to neutral.

 

You will have to excuse me if I am seeing this from the wrong perspective but this reminds me of the first time I adjusted the lifters on my 1st Shovelhead. Maybe you are doing what I did, I bottomed out the pushrod in the lifter, fully collapsing the lifter and adjusted backwards. For some reason I thought Zero lash was a fully collapsed lifter not a fully extended lifter. The goal is to get the cylinder in the proper location, both lifters for that cylinder down or on the low point of the cam, then install the pushrods by fully collapsing to install followed by extending to fill the gap between the rocker arm and the lifter without collapsing the plunger on the lifter. This is Zero lash then you adjust or extend the pushrod from there. Keep in mind, once you have the pushrods adjusted properly, there should be no free play in the pushrod and lift of the cam will raise the pushrod and open the valve.

 

I want to be very clear the proceedure is the same however the number of turns is specific to your lifter/pushrod combo so be sure to follow that specification. You said 0.125" which tells me you are using non-HD parts so do not follow the above mentioned adjustment which is for Twin Cams

 

Just put it in 5th gear and rotate the rear wheel . If you don't feel anything binding you should be ok the start it