What's The Verdict On Used Cams? I was talking to a buddy, and he says that you will wear out your lifters quicker using someone's used cams.

I was/am contemplating buying some used ones from another member. His have approximately 6 K on them, and would save about $250 over new, but would I really be saving $ over buying used as opposed to new if the lifters wore out. I do appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks

 

Other then a more aggressive cam might wear out lifters faster regardless if new or used, not sure I could see how a used cam vs a new cam could wear out the lifters faster.

If the used cams are worn (high mileage or damage).....then I could see it.

 

I didn't have any issues with used cams. I bought used 255s from a forum member, ran them for a while and sold them to someone else. No problems here.

 

I dont think good used cams would destroy lifters.
There have been many lifters replaced using the old cams.
I would at least give them a good visual check and mic the bearing ends.

 

I have a bad taste for installing used cams. Long story short, we put a used high performance cam in one of our race cars, probably a fluke but the cam broke in half, grenaded the entire motor... like I said probably just the luck of the draw.

 

Thats an old wives fable about wearing out lifters. These are roller lifters and are not likely to wear the cams, or the lifters.

 

A lot of people's opinions have been developed over years of working with componants that weren't nearly as reliable as the ones available today. (you're also gonna get some opinions from some folks who have never gotten much deeper than an oil and filter change)

There's always some element of risk with using used parts. You want to know where the parts came out of, and stay away from anything that came from a motor that suffered a catastrophic failure.

Camshafts are fairly durable, and there's little risk in using a set of used cams, as long as the motor was maintained. I've seen cams that came out of motors with 60 or 70 thousand miles that looked brand new. Old style lifters (without the roller) would develop wear patterns fairly quickly, and it was not a good idea to reuse them when you changed cams. In other words, the lifters and cams became married for life. However, the new style lifters (such as the Harley "B" lifters) don't develop those type of wear patterns nearly as quickly, and I believe that low mileage lifters can be used with a different camshaft. How many miles? That depends on how hard the motor was run and how well it was maintained.

If you're taking a set of cams with 6000 miles on them, and putting them in your motor, you're wanting to know can you reuse your lifters? Lots of guys will say it's cheap insurance to just change the lifters, and that's true enough. But what's the risk of re-using a set of low mileage lifters that haven't been abused? Personally, I'd do it within reason on my own motor. (If I was working on someone else's motor, I'd tell them to go buy new lifters). I put a chevy motor together once and had gotten the lifters all switched around. I think they had something like 20K miles on them, and were being used on different lobes than they started on, which is essentially the same scenario. I didn't have any kind of lifter problems.

Ok, long winded, and probably didn't give you the exact answer you were looking for, but there's really no black and white answer on this one. Using used parts always carries some risk, but using good condition, low mileage parts can be done with very good success. Hot rodders have been doing it for years.

And if you get a lifter failure on a twinkie motor, it's easy enough to swap out.

there's my .02.

flame on

 

Used Harley cams will not prematurely wearout lifters,the reason? Roller tappets!

 

As others have said, it depends on the condition of the cams and the lifters. If they are both in good shape, no problem. Cams and lifters wear together and can develop a wear pattern that won't be a problem as long as they stay together, but mix them up and the different wear patterns could accelerate wear on one or the other. It's not likely to be a problem with roller lifters in good condition, but if I was going to put a new/used cam in a bike I recently spent $20-30K on, I'd go ahead and put new lifters in it just to be safe. They don't cost all that much once you're in there.

 

Cams and pistons are two things I don't like to buy used. If I'm tossing something together and don't care about longevity, maybe. If it's my main ride, never.