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[FlaHeatWave]

What lifters do y'all recommend (the lifters with the least failures,) and where is the best place to get them???

Some that have been mentioned; S&S Premium. GatorMan, Fueling, Woods

Is there any of these that I should stay away from?

'09 SERG 110, 259s, 10.5 / 1, stock heads

Thanks,

[panhead1]

I have used two sets of woods lifters.  Never had them go out on me yet.  They are just crazy loud for the first 5 minutes of riding till they pump up. 

[johnsachs]

S&S better than all the rest. 
John

[Boatman]

S&S better than all the rest. 
John

On a stock 110, do you want/need the travel limiters in the premium S&S lifters?

Do I cut the pushrods or take the rocker arms off?  I realize with the limiters I would need adjustables.

Thanks for starting this FHW.

[BostonboyDH]

I have used two sets of woods lifters.  Never had them go out on me yet.  They are just crazy loud for the first 5 minutes of riding till they pump up. 

I have woods lifters, They were not too noisy at first, but they sure as hell are now when bike sits for a few days then quiet down after about 30-40 seconds. It's a little nerve racking so there coming out for a set of S&S

[grc]

I had a set of Wood lifters for a few weeks back when they were fairly new to the market.  They sucked big time, never would quiet down, and when the replacement set was received from Wood (that's what took a few weeks) that set was improperly machined and the anti-rotation pins wouldn't seat in the case.  The set came with a little note stapled to the instructions that said if you ran into that problem it was due to a case machining error by the MoCo and you should just file the lifters until the pins fit.  Needless to say that set went back as well and I just went with a set of Harley "B" lifters to get the bike back on the road.  The original lifters fit that case just fine, the first set of defective Wood lifters fit fine, and the last set of Harley lifters fit the same case just fine.  I don't appreciate being jerked around or lied to by any company, not just H-D, so my opinion of Wood lifters went in the dumper.  Maybe the recent stuff is better, maybe not, I couldn't tell you.  But the entire idea of letting the valve train rattle for 30 seconds to 5 minutes after starting a bike that has sat for awhile is pure unadulterated BS, I don't give a chit what Bob Wood says.

IMHO, stick with a known product with a long history of satisfied users (S&S).

Jerry

[panhead1]

I hear ya jerry.  i just havn't bought any new ones yet.  The first set only lasted about 200 miles.  then one of them wouldn't pump all the way up again.  The second set was good for about 10k miles. Got them last fall. Then checked out everything in there and thats when it started taking awhile to pump up.   They didn't even have to sit long.  After like 10 mins or so would get the tapping for like a minute then after about 5 minutes of riding would finally quit making any noise.  I definatly will be trying s&s or something else next time. 

[FlaHeatWave]

Jerry,
What are your thoughts on the travel limiters on the S&S??

Thanks,

[grc]

Jerry,
What are your thoughts on the travel limiters on the S&S??

Thanks,

I was always under the impression that travel limiters were intended for high rpm use and were unlikely to have any impact on lifter operation for the kind of riding 99% of Harley riders do.  What they basically do is cut the available travel of the piston in half, from .200" total to .100" total.  It means the piston will physically bottom out earlier, which would have the effect of limiting how much valve lift you would lose when the piston bottoms at high rpm.  It's not something I see as being important to a street ridden Harley, but I don't claim to be an expert on the subject. 

Jerry

[GMR-PERFORMANCE]

For the normal street engine  you DO NOT NEED a limiter. No reason what soever. If you have lifters that are bleeding down and the lifter is good > something else is creating that problem fix that before going to the next step.   The S&S premium lifter is a great lifter. We have been looking into having our own lifter built and we are very close to having that ready to go. What we found along the way with other parties involved for testing manufacturing claims and such is that many of the lifters out there are not really any better or for that fact any worse ,..

[HILLSIDECYCLE.COM]

S&S better than all the rest. 
John

X2.
And we load them w/o limiters to .140-.150".
Scott

[Rooster]

Is there any difference in noise level between  the S&S lifters and Harley B ?

[wachuko]

Subscribed...

[HILLSIDECYCLE.COM]

Is there any difference in noise level between  the S&S lifters and Harley B ?

The B's always seemed to be good.
But the new, "more-dough-for-the-H-D-share-holder, Mexican lifters" don't seem to be.....
Scott

[lowflight]

The B's always seemed to be good.
But the new, "more-dough-for-the-H-D-share-holder, Mexican lifters" don't seem to be.....
Scott

Are you saying the newer style that went in 2013 don't seem to be very good?

[grc]

Are you saying the newer style that went in 2013 don't seem to be very good?

He was talking about the "C" lifters (C for cheap crap).  I don't think there has been enough time and miles yet to pass judgement  on the new SE lifters in the 2013 CVO's.

Jerry

[Rooster]

The B's always seemed to be good.
But the new, "more-dough-for-the-H-D-share-holder, Mexican lifters" don't seem to be.....
Scott

I asked because I have the B lifters in my Jim's 131. I had them the first time around and then when the motor was rebuilt I ran the Jim's lifters during break in then changed to the B lifters and can tell you the Jim's lifters are a noisy. I have about 12k on the B's and was thinking bout changing to S&S next time. The 131 has a lot of valve train noise by itself luckily my modular helmet drowns most of it out. Had the same level of noise the first time around so figured it must be normal.

[dlaws01]

X2.
And we load them w/o limiters to .140-.150".
Scott

Scott,  If you load them to .140" - .150" then why would it really matter if you used the lifters with the limiters and just load them mid way?   

[quicked]

ss lifters=no problems

[Boatman]

I ordered the S&S premium lifters without limiters last night from Eastern Performance.

[cmashark]

I've used Woods lifters on my last builds.  I set the 32 tpi pushrods to 21 flats. Nice and quiet.  Now the stock lifters and pushrods on the 255 cams were very noisy.

[Indenial]

Can anyone comment on the HQ Black Ops lifters?  I was thinking of putting these in this winter, as I have 20K miles on whatever the Harley dealer put in after my engine neede rebuilding due to a failed lifter at 30K.

[Boatman]

Can anyone comment on the HQ Black Ops lifters?  I was thinking of putting these in this winter, as I have 20K miles on whatever the Harley dealer put in after my engine neede rebuilding due to a failed lifter at 30K.

Talk to Ken (NorthGeorgiaHawg) as he uses them and likes them.

[32Lager]

Check with M and M Cycles. They're highly recommended on the HD forums and they have the best prices I've found. I talked to him the other day about the differences between High Performance S&S lifters without adjustable pushrods vs. the limiter travel kit (HL2T) and adjustable pushrods. He took the time to personally answer my questions and seems very knowledgable about the products he sells.

http://mandmcycles.com/detail.aspx?Category1=Harley&Mfg=S%26S&Category2=Engine&Category3=Lifters&ProductNo=MM003614

[evodistraction]

It was suggested by the dealer that lifters should be replaced every 7500 miles when running any performance cams. I have T Man 625's and stock 2012 HD lifters with about 5k miles on the engine. The cams have only been installed for 500 or so miles. I'm interested to hear from the members regarding your expieriences and recommendations. Is the dealer in CYA mode?


Thanks as always,

Evo

[JKM]

unfortunately the dealer is probably right if you using the stock lifters, but that's because stock lifters are crap.  S&S lifters would be one of the better replacements available and will last much longer than stock HD lifters.

[evodistraction]

unfortunately the dealer is probably right if you using the stock lifters, but that's because stock lifters are crap.  S&S lifters would be one of the better replacements available and will last much longer than stock HD lifters.

Thanks. On a scale of 1 - 10 with 1 being no mechanical skill at all and 10 being a professional builder, where does removal/installation of a set of lifters rank? BTW I'd say I'm a 3-4.

Evo

[sadunbar]

It was suggested by the dealer that lifters should be replaced every 7500 miles when running any performance cams. I have T Man 625's and stock 2012 HD lifters with about 5k miles on the engine. The cams have only been installed for 500 or so miles. I'm interested to hear from the members regarding your expieriences and recommendations. Is the dealer in CYA mode?


Thanks as always,

Evo

It's not often I say this, but in this case, your dealer is giving you good advice!   

[sadunbar]

Thanks. On a scale of 1 - 10 with 1 being no mechanical skill at all and 10 being a professional builder, where does removal/installation of a set of lifters rank? BTW I'd say I'm a 3-4.

Evo

Moderate mechanical skill and a service manual should get lifters replaced with no issues...   

[ldireprophil]

Can anyone comment on the HQ Black Ops lifters?  I was thinking of putting these in this winter, as I have 20K miles on whatever the Harley dealer put in after my engine neede rebuilding due to a failed lifter at 30K.

I have the HQ Black Ops.  So far so good, a lot of shops recommend them.  I installed mine back in the summer.

[evodistraction]

Moderate mechanical skill and a service manual should get lifters replaced with no issues...   

Without attempting to hijack this thread, what service manuals do you guys use? The ones from HD? Clymer? One of the online variants you can download?

Evo

[sadunbar]

Without attempting to hijack this thread, what service manuals do you guys use? The ones from HD? Clymer? One of the online variants you can download?

Evo

The MOCO service manuals are more than adequate...   

[timo482]

service manuals are one of the things that HD does really well.

i always have one for every bike I've had - never had any issues - just the best.

i get manuals for all the vehicles i have - ford manuals are decent - Chrysler poor - Kawasaki so so - HD the best

to

[evodistraction]

It was suggested by the dealer that lifters should be replaced every 7500 miles when running any performance cams. I have T Man 625's and stock 2012 HD lifters with about 5k miles on the engine. The cams have only been installed for 500 or so miles. I'm interested to hear from the members regarding your expieriences and recommendations. Is the dealer in CYA mode?

It's not often I say this, but in this case, your dealer is giving you good advice!   

Since I have the T-Man 625's installed I went ahead and emailed TR asking him this same question. Here is my email and his response:

TR,

I have a set of T-Man 625 cams installed in a 2012 CVO 110" engine that I recently purchased from a dealer. I was told that the cams were recently installed along with a set of adjustable pushrods. The stock SE lifters were used and the engine had about 5000 miles on it when the cams were installed. My question is how many miles should I expect out of those lifters assuming normal riding and maintenance. The dealer suggested I replace any lifters regardless of manufacturer at 7500 mile intervals. Do you agree with that and which lifters do you recommend for these cams?

I appreciate any feedback you can give me.

Dave

On Dec 13, 2013, at 9:38 AM, "T-Man Performance" <info@tmanperformance.com> wrote:

Dave,

If they suggest replacing the lifters at 7,500 mile intervals, they really have no confidence in their product. I would suggest replacing with S&S Premium Lifters, we have motors with over 30,000 miles on them with no problems.

Tom Reiser (TR)
 T-Man Performance
 336-993-7068 (shop)
 336-993-7082 (fax)
 Check our web site at:
tmanperformance.com
 
So, as usual there are various opinions regarding the longevity of a set of S&S lifters. I can understand the 7500 mike change out for stock HD lifters, no doubt they are of a much lower quality. However, if I install the premium S&S I would hope to get 4x that amount of service life. The HD dealer told me it didn't matter what brand of lifter you used, 7500 miles is it.

Question: What is the most miles anyone has seen on a set of lifters and what brand were they? (OK that's 2 questions, big deal!)

Evo

[Twolanerider]

I know TR didn't mean it this way; but when it can be taken that just 30,000 miles is something to praise as a time in service for an internal engine component we are in a sad way....

[North Georgia Hawg]

Can anyone comment on the HQ Black Ops lifters?  I was thinking of putting these in this winter, as I have 20K miles on whatever the Harley dealer put in after my engine neede rebuilding due to a failed lifter at 30K.

Just saw this. Yes, I run the HQ Black Ops and I really, really like them. Super quiet, and I haven't had any issues with them.

One other option: On my old Evo FLHTP I ran the Velva-Touch lifters, and really liked them. They came with their own lifter block assemblies on the Evos and run at like a .0001 tolerance.  They make them for TCs as well, but I haven't used them. When it comes time for lifter replacement on Honey Badger, I may try the Velva-Touch lifters. Hopefully they'll still be in business by then. I've ridden a whopping ONE time since MV 13... 

Ken

[North Georgia Hawg]

Without attempting to hijack this thread, what service manuals do you guys use? The ones from HD? Clymer? One of the online variants you can download?

Evo

In my opinion, you should always have the Genuine H-D Factory Service Manual for your year and model, including any Supplement for your year and model. And the Parts Catalog for your year and model is really good to have, too.

The Clymer manuals are good, and have many more pictures than the H-D manuals. But they don't replace the H-D manuals IMHO.

Ken

[hrdtail78]

The HD service manual is good, but pay attention to lifter and pushrod instructions. The manual doesn't cover adjustable pushrods.

[FlaHeatWave]

Since I have the T-Man 625's installed I went ahead and emailed TR asking him this same question. His response:

On Dec 13, 2013, at 9:38 AM, "T-Man Performance" <info@tmanperformance.com> wrote:

Dave,

If they suggest replacing the lifters at 7,500 mile intervals, they really have no confidence in their product. I would suggest replacing with S&S Premium Lifters, we have motors with over 30,000 miles on them with no problems.

Tom Reiser (TR)
 T-Man Performance
 336-993-7068 (shop)
 336-993-7082 (fax)
 Check our web site at:
tmanperformance.com
 
So, as usual there are various opinions regarding the longevity of a set of S&S lifters. I can understand the 7500 mike change out for stock HD lifters, no doubt they are of a much lower quality. However, if I install the premium S&S I would hope to get 4x that amount of service life. The HD dealer told me it didn't matter what brand of lifter you used, 7500 miles is it.

Question: What is the most miles anyone has seen on a set of lifters and what brand were they? (OK that's 2 questions, big deal!)
Evo

I'm going with T.R.'s recommendation on this one, after all he's the one that makes the cams, he builds a lot of motors, and I'd be really surprised if S&S is paying him anything... 

In much part, due to this thread, we went with the T-Man 625s and S&S Premium Lifters in the 113" build in the '09 SERG