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Searching for pushrods..

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Old May 9, 2026 | 06:03 PM
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Default Searching for pushrods..

I've come back from the dead. After getting influenza A, about 2 days later my left leg locked up. Any pressure on the butt, hamstring, quad or calf and pain. Went to emergancy and saw my doctor twice. Neither were any help. For 2 weeks it was incredibly painful walk or sit. I've gotten to the point where I can stand for a while and sit for short periods.. Needless to say the pan has been sitting on the lift.

Today is my first day actually standing and working.

I started back on the motor by rebuilding the pushrods. The threads on the adjuster were munged up and started to clean them up. I noticed that the push rod ends were nice and smooth but looking closer, they are severely worn. A radius gauge shows them being somewhere between 15/32 and 1/2 inch diameter and not very round. Remember, this motor had oil passages plugged to the heads. The rocker arms, valves and guides were all trashed. I'd looked at the pushrod ends and they looked good but come to find out they are don't have a good radius at the end.

So I've started a search for new pushrods.. I'm having trouble finding original style steel. Anyone know of a source? V twin mfg might have some Sifton ones. Hard to tell. I can get aluminum ones from Colony.

Any recommendations?
 
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Old May 10, 2026 | 12:47 PM
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3 of my 4 Pans run solids that I got from Andrews. I'll have to dig thru my 65 build notes to see what/where I got those from.

And just an idea, have you thought of using the aluminum ones from Jims (if there are no other options in steel)?
 
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Old May 10, 2026 | 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by panz4ever
3 of my 4 Pans run solids that I got from Andrews. I'll have to dig thru my 65 build notes to see what/where I got those from.

And just an idea, have you thought of using the aluminum ones from Jims (if there are no other options in steel)?
Haven't found any Jim's but Colony makes a set.. I'd guess they'd be OK.
 
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Old May 10, 2026 | 03:25 PM
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Uncle Tedd has steel units from Eastern Motorcycle Parts.

https://www2.vtwinmfg.com/standard-s...-assembly.html



 
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Old May 10, 2026 | 09:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Ohio HD
Uncle Tedd has steel units from Eastern Motorcycle Parts.

https://www2.vtwinmfg.com/standard-s...-assembly.html


I'm not sure why you show the pic of a lifter for what looks like an early pan. The main problem is that this motor had oil passages blocked and the pushrod ends wore quite a bit. I replaced the rocker blocks and arms.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/panhe...l#post21549291

I was rebuilding the pushrods on this latest teardown and found that the ends were worn. Notice the end flat on one is a lot smaller than the other. The radius of the end is not concentric with the centerline of the pushrod. One the one with the small flat, oil fed to the rocker cup can leak out.. I suspect that it's due to the pushrods wearing into the rocker arm sockets without oil.



 
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Old May 11, 2026 | 08:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Max Headflow
I'm not sure why you show the pic of a lifter for what looks like an early pan. The main problem is that this motor had oil passages blocked and the pushrod ends wore quite a bit. I replaced the rocker blocks and arms.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/panhe...l#post21549291

I was rebuilding the pushrods on this latest teardown and found that the ends were worn. Notice the end flat on one is a lot smaller than the other. The radius of the end is not concentric with the centerline of the pushrod. One the one with the small flat, oil fed to the rocker cup can leak out.. I suspect that it's due to the pushrods wearing into the rocker arm sockets without oil.
Sorry about that Max. I guess I had lifter on the brain as there was a post about lifters I was posting in.
 
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Old May 12, 2026 | 12:59 PM
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I found from V twin mfg some 11-7706 53 to 65 V thunder pushrods that are chrome alloy instead of aluminum. When I ordered the set, all other listings stopped so it may have been the last set. The only other steel sets are S&S which the going price was around $400 without adjusters or nuts... WFO Larry has a set of Jim's but they turned out to be for a shovel. The Jim's ones look to be aluminum. I'd probably gone with colony aluminum ones but I'd give these a shot. They may be the last set as I'd bet comp cams don't make them any more..



 
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Old May 12, 2026 | 01:49 PM
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Max, just a thought. Maybe contact Smith Bros and see if they have anything to help you. I know they make custom pushrods as I've bought some from them in the past, although mine were one piece.

Smith Bros Catalog
 
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Old May 12, 2026 | 04:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Ohio HD
Max, just a thought. Maybe contact Smith Bros and see if they have anything to help you. I know they make custom pushrods as I've bought some from them in the past, although mine were one piece.

Smith Bros Catalog
Yeah, I thought about them. One of the issues I'm not sure about was the ball end radius. I'm not sure if its 1/4, 15/64 or 7/32. I did find the v thunder. Another thing is that the V thunder shovel PRs are available all over the place. Since it's a straight tube and the shovel is about 0.300" longer, I could possibly pull the ball end off, cut the rod and install the ball back on.
 
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Old May 12, 2026 | 05:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Max Headflow
Yeah, I thought about them. One of the issues I'm not sure about was the ball end radius. I'm not sure if its 1/4, 15/64 or 7/32. I did find the v thunder. Another thing is that the V thunder shovel PRs are available all over the place. Since it's a straight tube and the shovel is about 0.300" longer, I could possibly pull the ball end off, cut the rod and install the ball back on.
Maybe send an email or call Gary Wallace at Andrews. He should know the radius. He's always been forthcoming with information when I needed it.
 
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