report on lifter problem
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,396
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From:
For some reason or another, when you pay 20k for a bike, harleys quality control is pathetic and anemic to say the least, Harley has had a problem with lifters since the evo days, and still continue to this day, I wouldnt dare use another hd lifter, i would look elsewhere, vthunder,jims, so the answer to your question is no, your oil probably had nothing to with it, you should be asking the dealer why you paid 20k or more for a bike, that needs the engine serviced at 25k miles, and i dont understand why people are openly "ok" with this, Think about it, if your chevy truck needed the lifters replaced every25k miles, youd be calling the bbb and anyone else who would lend a ear, its bullshit, and if had a new bike that ran hot, rattled lifters, shifted cranks, Id ride that bike right up harleys ***...sorry...end of rant....
Road Warrior
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,251
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I believe they are the same lifters small block Chevys use. While Evos had problems with the rollers, the Twin Cams have been upgraded to better rollers on the lifters. A lot of us think the stock lifters in the Twin Cam are better than the aftermarket products, and I run them on fairly radical cams. A bud put JIMS in his hot rod twin cam and they were noisy right off, he replaced them with his old lifterrs and they are quiet with 56,000 miles.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,241
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From: Daytona, Fla.
I'm curious, did you get your hands on the "failed" lifters? What failed? Were they not pumping up, or were the rollers loose? Early Evo lifters with the small axle had a life expectancy of around 35000 or so although I've seen 'em go much longer. The angle of the front exhaust lifter on Evo's was part of the problem, supposedly solved by the twin cam motor. The change to better angles in the twin cam motor & big axle lifters should increase lifter life. I'd want to see any that failed if it were in my motor.....
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,396
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From:
Thats a common misconception, they are not the same as chevy lifters, plus chevy lifters have been known to last 175k miles in a car, and obviously, you stock lifters are NOT ANY BETTER then jims if they are failing, Listen, are they going to be noisy, of course, you have a air cooled engine with, imo a radical angle of valve train, Im not saying that you wont get vt noise, but you should not have lifters FAILING, period, and its not ok to make excuses for them, if it were my buck, id want that **** warrantied with a quality product so it doenst happen again.
Road Warrior
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,251
Likes: 1
I didn't say my lifters failed. My bud's lifters didn't fail either. He listens to a wrench who has funny ideas, and bit on the JIMS lifters. He said they were noisy from the get go, and reinstalled his stock ones with 56,000 miles. I don't know anybody who had Twin cam lifter fail. Small block Chevy lifters sure look and measure the same. The internals could be different I don't know as my lifters have never failed, and I ride two modified Twin Cams with stock lifters, not the Screamin' Eagle which are known to be problematic. Glad to learn I have an air cooled engine and it's noisy. Thanks.
Not a problem, I didnt know if they were still handing out that poser hand book with all new twin cam purchases.
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,396
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From:
Just saying the circles I run in include a lot of guys with late model Harleys, some of the best wrenches in the area and some respected drag racers. Never been called poser before, that's funny. I have been rather well known in this part of the country for over thirty years and my experience is that the stock lifters are not a problem. Are there isolated incidents, of course if it's mechanical it will eventually fail. I don't know about other forums or what people do to cause problems. I just don't think it's fair to bad rap Harley on the twin cam lifters, if you were talking early Evo then I'd agree. I'm just talking from my experience and that of some pretty knowledgable guys.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Just saying the circles I run in include a lot of guys with late model Harleys, some of the best wrenches in the area and some respected drag racers. Never been called poser before, that's funny. I have been rather well known in this part of the country for over thirty years and my experience is that the stock lifters are not a problem. Are there isolated incidents, of course if it's mechanical it will eventually fail. I don't know about other forums or what people do to cause problems. I just don't think it's fair to bad rap Harley on the twin cam lifters, if you were talking early Evo then I'd agree. I'm just talking from my experience and that of some pretty knowledgable guys.
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,396
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If you continue to recommend the B lifter I suggest you do some more research.Here is a start-check out page 1 for picshttp://harleytechtalk.org/htt/index....,28042.20.html
You do know that this is an old post?
Last edited by Northside; Aug 28, 2010 at 11:47 PM.