I am having to readjust my Smith Push rods riding on Gaterman GP1023 lifters because of excessive valve train noise.
I was misinformed that the adjustable's needed to be turned 2 flats, when I put the new lifters, push rods, and cams into it, but after speaking with Bill Gaterman of Gatorman lifters yesterday he informed me that he would like to see 3 full turns on the push rods of the cylinder which will be on its compression stroke.

The method that I used for the front cylinder was:
Turn the engine over (by hand) until you see the That is when exhaust lifter is traveling down and the intake lifter is traveling up (closing the exhaust valve and opening the intake valve).

Once you find that for the rear cylinder, the FRONT cylinder will be on its compression stroke. You can now adjust the front cylinder push rods. (when I did this a straw placed in the spark plug hole also showed that the piston was at it's highest point of travel in the front piston.

With the push rods loose, tighten them until there is no up and down play. The push rods should be able to rotate easily with your fingers but should not move up and down any.

Wait 15 to 20 minutes for the lifters to bleed down after adjusting the pushrods. If you are on the second cylinder wait 15-20 minutes before turning the engine over. You can check to see if the lifters have bled down by turning the pushrods with your fingers. DO NOT turn the engine over until you can rotate the pushrods with your fingers. If they don't bleed down find out what is wrong before trying to turn the engine over.

This completes the adjustment for the front, Now start over again only look for the cam overlap in the FRONT cylinder and adjust the rear.

Here is my problem, when searching for the cam overlap in the FRONT cylinder, I can not seem to find the cam overlap for it, so that I can adjust the rear pushrods. When I do find a position that looks correct by watching the pushrods on the front cylinder the piston is far DOWN in the cylinder. This is getting to be much to complicated, I sense that it is a simple process but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it. I am dyslectic and service connected ptsd which may explain it.
Any help would be appreciated,
Jb

 

You're on the right track but I wouldn't get too wrapped up in watching the intake/exhaust action which can be deceiving. What has worked for me is have a partner turn the rear wheel while I keep my fingers on the lifters or push rods. When they're on their lowest level together you're there. Take a peak in the hole to verify piston is at its top. The amount of adjustment depends on thread count. I happen to be doing an Evo right now and it has 32tpi adjusters so will need three turns plus two flats and I'm using Gaterman lifters also. Good luck.

 

I believe that I have that part about determining when to adjust understood with all of the good input I have received.
Here is something else that is confusing me, when I adjust one of those pushrods by tightening them to zero lash and then go 3 more turns as per Bill Gaterman why does it take 7 turns back to get them to that zero lash point?
I know, leave things alone but it just didn't feel right and so I just backed it out for the heck of it to see what would occur.
There is more but if you guys have the time I would appreciate it.
I must have got lucky when I put it all together because the bike fired right off and ran well, it just had some valve train noise.
Now I feel like I have a cluster F... on my hands.
Oh well, it's sitting in my garage up on the jack in sunny Florida with lots of help from people like you guys, I appreciate the help.
I would like to get these push rods adjusted correctly at home before I take it up to the shop (45 miles away) to be tuned.

 

I can't explain the 7 turns, unless you were not at TDC, but start at the beginning by getting the front (or back) at TDC on compression. I did this by sticking my fingers in the lifter holes and rotating the engine til I felt them hit the base circle of the cam at the same time and checking piston position thru spark plug hole. Screwed the pushrods out to zero lash (just contact with the lifter cup and able to spin p-rod), then went the required turns plus a flat to set them. Waited til I could spin the p-rods (took about 45 minutes on mine), then did the other cylinder.

 

How did you manage to get your fingers past the push rods and down to the lifters?

 

Skinny fingers!!!!
I set the lifters before I put the p-rods in. I also used a paint stick to put a dot on the upper part of the p-rod to keep track of turns. (just because I'm not smart enough to keep track in my head)

 

Yeah ,
I did the same thing when the lifters were naked, but after buttoning it all up it gets a little more interesting, I'll get it, I'm surprised that there is no need to "take all of the slack out or adjust them all of the way down and then back out" or something like that, I guess I need to understand hydraulic lifters (which I don't) anyone know of a simple to understand video or article about them?

 

Don't need to back them out after you've done your 3 turn adjustment. Just wait for them to bleed down so you can twist the pushrods again, then repeat for the other cylinder. I'll see if I can find a video.
Try this one:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...ftHFQJTRDtFqnw