I decided to adjust the valve lash on my 1975 FLH. It has an S&S 88" stroker kit which was installed in the engine in 1997. The bike was driven 4500 miles and parked until 2014.

I bought it and got it running again. I drove it several hundred miles, and noticed that the lifters were a bit noisy. I called the guy I bought it from to confirm what he told me at time of purchase, and he said the engine had solid lifters.

I did the pre lifter adjustment routine, put the bike in 4th gear, pulled the plugs, disconnected the battery, removed the pushrod tubes or whatever they are called. I had it on my jack during this process and the rear wheel was clear of the floor.

I used the kicker to bring the rear cylinder tappets to their lowest point on the heel of the cam lobe.

I was expecting to see a normal adjustable pushrod, a jam nut and adjuster nut to adjust the lifter, but after I removed the spring clips and slid the pushrod cover up, but all I had was a jam nut up against the pushrod. The pushrod had two flat spots on opposite sides of the pushrod. The jam nut was on a piece of threaded stock, that was threaded up into the pushrod, and down out of sight into the engine.

After many false starts, I got the back cylinder adjusted to spec, able to twist the pushrod with a little resistance and no upward movement.

I then used the kicker to bring the front to a position in which both pushrods were at lowest position and set those lifters to spec.

I was feeling pretty smug until looked back at the rear cylinder and noticed the pushrod for the exhaust valve did not look right. The pushrod was ok, was ok, but the black adjuster going down to the tappet was all bent.

I am thinking that instead of a traditional solid lifters I have a conversion kit for hydraulic lifters, and I failed to let the lifter bleed down before rotating the engine so could set the front cylinder valves.

Rookie mistake, I should have known something was up when I could not find an adjuster nut located below the jam nut on the pushrod adjustment.

A couple of questions.

Can I put a set of collapsible push rod tubes in with a traditional adjustment configuration? Like the S&S Quickie Tubes, and keep the current lifters/tappets? Just remember to let the tappets bleed down this time.

Do I need the one where oil flows to the rocker boxes through the pushrod?

Will the Sifton solid lifter kit be OK to use? It is pushing $400.00 and that is about all my budget will allow.

I have no clue about the lift or duration of the cam, I am assuming it came with the kit installed back in 1997. The bike ran fine until I decided to start playing mechanic.

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

for use with stock push rods --- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bikers-Choic...2076d0&vxp=mtr --

-- seals that really seal -- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pushrod-Cove...f728a3&vxp=mtr --

-- use ONLY steel push rods - the aluminum ones hit the covers -

"what camshaft do you have in a 88" ?

 

Reference the camshaft, all I know is it came with the 88" S&S Stroker Kit that was installed in the engine in 1997. I called the Tech Line at S&S today, and they did not have information that old at their disposal. Bottom line is that I do not know the lift and duration of the camshaft. The bike is easy to start, or at least was until I messed up the pushrod. It pulls very well, and is very manageable to ride in traffic. It pulls from 70MPH to 100MPH in 4th strong and steady. A drastic change from my last 1975 FLH, which was bone stock, it ran faster in 3rd gear than 4th gear.

I needed to know if the ball on the tappet had a hole in it or not, as I intend to either order the S&S Quickie Pushrod Kit for it. The ball had no hole in it, I assume the hole is used to gather oil from around the tappet and use the pushrod tube to convey it up to the rocker box.

There was no hole in the ball, and the way I found out was pretty crude but very efficient. I took a pair of bolt cutters and cut the pushrod in two so I could remove it without taking the head off the engine. Fortunately the valve spring had no load on it, and it came out clean.

All of this because I am a newbie and did not know most "solid lifters" in S&S Shovel motors are of the non adjustable hydraulic conversion variety. A lesson I will not soon forget. When one sets the lash on those cited above, you still have to wait on them to bleed down. I may just put a set of real solids in there and live with the racket, at least they will be a cinch to adjust.