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[VANAMAL]

what the correct way to make sure that your on the lowest point of the cam lobe while adusting the pushrods??

[Dan_Lockwood]

what the correct way to make sure that your on the lowest point of the cam lobe while adjusting the pushrods??

Top Dead Center of the compression stroke.  You should have both valves on "that" cylinder in their closed position.

I normally put the bike up on the center jack stand, pull the plugs and put the trans in high gear.  At that point you can turn the rear tire with your foot or hand and watch the pushrods going up and down.  You can use a screwdriver to see when the piston is coming up the cylinder.  You want to watch the pushrods and while turning the rear wheel forward, the pushrods should both be down and the piston is coming up the cylinder.  At top dead center that cylinder should be able to be adjusted.  Repeat the same procedure for the other cylinder and you're done.

After watching the pushrods going up and down as you have been turning the rear tire, you'll get a feel for when a particular lifter/pushrod is on the low dwell of the cam.  I normally don't do the screwdriver TDC thing, just watch the pushrods and adjust one when I know the other one is down.  As I said, you'll get an idea for when they are down or on the move, so to speak.

Not to pry on your back ground with mechanics, but this question is what I would consider a motor basics 101 question.  Again, not knowing your experience, adjusting lifters incorrectly can be a problem and disastrous if done incorrectly.  Just use caution and error on the side of, yes I know this pushrod is in the full down position before you make any adjustments.  A manual is a very valuable item to have during this procedure.

When I bought the old '76 FLH I had no idea what to do and how to do it.  Not that I didn't have an understanding for motors, I do, but mine had been hydraulics converted to solids and I wasn't sure of the clearance necessary as the manual only referred to stock HD parts and they were all hydraulics.  It took a forum like this to set me straight.

I'm not familiar with the hydraulic lifters on the new bikes, but I do know that there are different ways to adjust them, dry or full of oil.  So others will probably fill you in on that aspect of the adjustments.  If you're using aftermarket pushrods, sometimes the threads per inch vary and the number of turns from bottoming the lifter and up will vary because of that.  So they'll need to know, stock or aftermarket pushrods, hydraulic or solids, dry or with oil.

Good luck and I'm sure others will have other tricks that may be more straight forward.  But with the screwdriver in the sparkplug hole and the piston coming up on the compression / firing stroke, you have just about a full stroke up and about the same on the down stroke after firing that the valves are fully closed.  Your margin of error is greatly reduced when doing the TDC of the compression / fire stroke.

Good luck and be careful.

[VANAMAL]

at tdc the intake should be on the heel of the cam but in looking at a cam itself it doesnt appear that ex lobe will be on the heel. i did the lowest point by eyeball last time but i was hopeing to be a little more precise. help me out on this hd dude.

[hd-dude]

Hey Van...Late in seeing this but Dan gives good advice,

Pull the plugs, jack the bike up in 5th and rotate forward to TDC and watch the lifter your adjusting drop into the bore.  Make your adjustment from there based on the manufacture of the pushrods instructions.

For new lifters I like to bleed them first by squirting oil from a oil can into the side hole on the lifter. Hold the lifter upright while you do this until no air bubbles come out of the top of the lifter.  Another way to do this is to let them sit submerged in oil over night