I am going on a long ride this summer (10k) and pulled the cam support to change chain tenshioners on my 02 FLHTCUI. I found one of the se adjustable pushrods Ex Front bent with a runout of .03. I have always had a what I thinkwas a valve tap shortly after the SE 103 kit was installed. The chain shoes are somewhat worn (35k) but the lifters have about 45,000 mi. on them. The question is, what lifters and push rods are best and most reliable and should I throw in a new set of cams with them.There are a lot of other thoughts like oil pump, (35k) Cam plate, (95k) Rocker arms, (95k). The rocker supports were replaced last with the se forged ones after the complaint of the slight tap but it kept on tapping.The stator blew soI pulled the primaryand ordered parts and have time to play with the other stuff. HD has done most of the work on the bike and it has good low end grunt and has been a good piece so I am mostly looking for reliability. Thanks

 

I also have bent the front exh. pushrod 3 times. Starting to get expensive. I've got 40k miles on bike 30k of it on a 95" motor. Been doing upgrades along the way.

Bent the pushrod first time real bad. The tube was doing the Hula dance. Months later I replaced the cams and found that pushrod slightly bent again. Then I had my heads freshened up and upgraded from 10.25:1 cast pistons to 10.5:1 forged.

So basically I have checked and replaced all moving parts except the lifters which are OEM. Is that where the problem is?

I have built many motors and adjusted countless pushrods and no one has had this problem. I did come across a set of bad lifters which weren't allowing me to adjust pushrods properly. Installed a set of OEM's and problem solved.

Trying to figure out why the front exhaust. Need some good explanation to help me understand the situation.

I am a veteran Mechanic who has worked on several car lines with dealership training. I have always been at the top of my game. I am now working for a Utility Company as a Field Mechanic servicing heavy equipment. I work on anything from a chainsaw to a Freightliner, A Honda to a Caterpiller. Working on Harleys is sort of new to me (5+/- years) but I can read a service manual and understand mechanics clearly.

Anyone have any Ideas as to why this problem is persistent in the one hole? Keep in mind that it all started after 30k miles. Heads were checked out, rockers are fine. Did it with first cam change as well as second. Only thing I haven't changed is lifters.

 

The only thing that I can think of that would bend a push rod in the absence of valve damage due to piston to valve contact would be coil bind (trying to open the valve further when the valve spring is fully compressed - the pushrod is the weakest link and will bend). Is there anything else??

I assume your top end can handle the lift your cams are dishing out??

lifters could pump up at high revs and hold the valve open, could they pump up enough to cause coil bind without massive loss of power? This is a tough one...

I assume the lifters are set up right and you do a leakdown test.

 

All is supposed to be set up for that lift. Good point with the coil bind. Will check it and see if there is room for more lift when fully opened. Never had any valve to piston contact. I saw the runout on the valves and they were straight. Coil bind seems to be the best info. I have gotten. Thanks.

 

Coil bind might be happening when the lifters pump up at high revs so anti pump up lifters might be the answer. But my instincts are telling me there is something else causing just 1 push rod to be affected.

Check the shims under the front exh valve spring - they should be the same as the rest. If the wrong shim is in then the spring could have the wrong installed height and therefore bind under certian conditions. If you have the tools check the spring force and make sure it is no higher than the other valves - this would be an indication something is different about that valve.