Interesting. I've never known anyone to have a problem with lifters, even in high-mileage bikes--at least since the old small-axle days (pre-mid-90's). I put 65k on my old Evo RK's first set of big-axle lifters and changed them as a precaution. Its still running on the second set at 120k. Present bike has 31k, no problems. Upgraded cams at 25k and didn't see any reason to change the lifters, especially after a long-time engine builder recommended not changing them. His response was "These are the same lifters that are in Chevrolet cars and truck that accumulate 100k's of miles, and it is rare to hear of problems with them."

 

I had a lifter failure on my treasured 95 RK several years ago. The weld holding the crosspin in the lifter failed, the pin came loose and all the needle bearings came out. And, to this day, I have not found one single one of those needle bearings, nor evidence of them!!!

Eric

 

Maybe they were ground to oblivion like a pencil I once dropped in a spark-plug hole on my '96 RK. Why put a pencil in the spark-plug hole you ask? At the time it seemed like a good way to find TDC, as it would've been had it not broken, half of it staying in the combustion chamber. I never saw or heard evidence it was ever in there.

Your '95 may have had the small-axle lifters. At some point in time around the mid-90's they made the change and my early-build '96 had the large-axle type. I changed them years later (at 65k) as a precaution since I didn't know which was in there and the small-axle type were causing problems.

 

any advise on using adjustable pushrods so the dealer will not have to pull rocker boxes?
I have a long trip coming up and just don't feel comfortable with the dealer tearing down the top end to replace my lifters. thought it would be a simple fix to replace pushrods with adjustable so they wouldn't have to mess with the rocker boxes.

 

No specific advise. If you are getting them anyway, spend the extra $10 (or whatever it is) and the the tapered ones. I got the SE tapered ones for about $130 or so from Zanotti. Less clicking on the tubes and you can use a higher lift cam in the future if you want without worrying about clearance issues in the head.

 

+1 on Matrix5's comments. I've heard good things about the SE tapered pushrods (18404-08), although MSRP is a bit pricey, better from Zanotti's (~$134). I had Revere Taperlites on my old RK and they were fine, having endured about 100k miles on that bike to date. Make sure you buy the "quick-install" type, as there are some adjustables on the market that will not install without removing the rocker covers. I would also buy chrome-moly instead of aluminum, as I wonder about the long-term durability of aluminum threads considering how much pushrods are thrashed in normal operation.

There are advantages to the stock pushrods, namely they'll never get out of adjustment and are lighter. Removing and re-installing the rocker covers and plates adds maybe two hours to the job but once done it is done. Adjustables might be advisable if you plan on changing cams again in the future, but few people do that.