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[MrSurly]

2010 CUSE5 (garage queen that I bought last year), at 14K miles I upgraded cams and more. Installed woods Directional lifters at the time.
What I'm pondering about is.... Since I preemptively changed the lifters, have I effectively avoided the dreaded 110 lifter drama?
For "good"?
Is the 110 lifter issue solely the stock lifters, or something more basic that continues to plague any aftermarket lifters that go into these 110s?
To be clear, I did not have any lifter or other failure, this was just elective upgrading.
I'm just wondering if folks are getting long life out of their replacement/aftermarket lifters with no further drama.

Thanks

[wnogood]

From what I have read, and understand, you should not have to revisit this. Unless those woods lifters give you issues. They gotta be better than the ones that came in it though..

[phato1]

I don't know about "for good" but the aftermarket offerings seem to offer better longevity than the MOCO parts, although the SE lifters that were intorduced in '13 might be better than the previous ones - at least I hope so because those are the one I had installed in my 11.5 under warranty when the stock ones wore prematurely at 7500 miles -

 I plan on keeping an "ear" on them and also checking them each winter during the winter induced down time. Checked mine this past winter/spring and everything looked ok.

I am of the opinion that the valvetrain angles combined with the aggressive profile of the 255 cams is just plain not friendly to the valvetrain components like the lifters and/or rocker arms and that's why I think I'll keep performing an annual inspection on the lifters and maybe do an inspection of the top end every couple seasons - it's easy enough to pull the rocker boxes and take a look while the bike is down for the winter. - Again just my humble opinion on the subject, other opinions will of course differ.

[evostroker]

Relatively high seat pressure, steep cam ramps, and offset pushrod angles are hard on lifters. Having said that I have had excellent results with S&S premium lifters, and I have heard good things about GMR performance lifters. The only issue I have experianced with the Woods, that they can be a little noisy when cold..no reliability issues from what I have heard.

[Dan_Lockwood]

What year production started the "bad" lifters?  Is an '09 SERG safe? 

I'm thinking about doing lifters just to get a quieter ride, but if I "need" to do it, I will, but if I don't "need" to do it may take me longer to get to it.

Thanks.

[phato1]

What year production started the "bad" lifters?  Is an '09 SERG safe? 

I'm thinking about doing lifters just to get a quieter ride, but if I "need" to do it, I will, but if I don't "need" to do it may take me longer to get to it.

Thanks.

I think the jury is still out on when HD produced a "good" lifter......

You might want to consider at least checking yours.

[artanner1]

I'm waiting on an S&S motor to replace my Motor because the rear lifter cracked my case, I have spent $8500 already, some of that is upgrades for the 124.
My bike is a 2008 CVO Ultra, 110 with the 10.5 to 1 with the 259 e cam, Dyno tuned, with 47000 miles when the lifter failed.
Can someone tell me if this is a true statement: If you make changes to a factory Harley engine (more power-cams, higher compression) That the engine internal parts,(lifters, oil pump, crank, bearings etc..) are not designed for the higher engine loads. that I made the mistake of not upgrading the lifters when I did the high compression 110 kit....

So... A bone stoke Harley does one need to change out the lifters at some point?
This is an Awesome forum!!!!
Allen,

[grc]

I'm waiting on an S&S motor to replace my Motor because the rear lifter cracked my case, I have spent $8500 already, some of that is upgrades for the 124.
My bike is a 2008 CVO Ultra, 110 with the 10.5 to 1 with the 259 e cam, Dyno tuned, with 47000 miles when the lifter failed.
Can someone tell me if this is a true statement: If you make changes to a factory Harley engine (more power-cams, higher compression) That the engine internal parts,(lifters, oil pump, crank, bearings etc..) are not designed for the higher engine loads. that I made the mistake of not upgrading the lifters when I did the high compression 110 kit....

So... A bone stoke Harley does one need to change out the lifters at some point?
This is an Awesome forum!!!!
Allen,

All I can tell you is it wasn't a big problem in the past.  Even with Stage II or III mods (cams, compression, headwork) most people didn't have to upgrade things like cranks, oiling systems, lifters, etc..  In fact, many engine builders recommended using the Harley stock "B" lifters rather than the high priced and over hyped aftermarket stuff as recently as just a half dozen years ago.  While many people did spend a fortune on all the supposed "racing" parts like oil pumps and cam plates and lifters, it wasn't necessary for a street bike.

Now people with bone stock or Stage I bikes are experiencing major failures, and not just the CVO's.  Draw your own conclusions about where the fault lies.  IMHO this is the direct result of a management team that has been totally focused on cost cutting without regard for the degradation of quality and reliability that can often accompany such single minded cost cutting.

Jerry

[bigskyroadglide]

Relatively high seat pressure, steep cam ramps, and offset pushrod angles are hard on lifters. Having said that I have had excellent results with S&S premium lifters, and I have heard good things about GMR performance lifters. The only issue I have experianced with the Woods, that they can be a little noisy when cold..no reliability issues from what I have heard.

As above, its a combination of things.  Cheap OEM lifters, steep cam ramps and too heavy of a valve spring make for failures
.  Aftermarket cams, lifters and now springs are require to effectively correct the moco, engineering of performance engines.

Even had to do this on 120r as lifters, cams and springs are junk, causing problems.  However, with good torque cams, lifters and springs designed to work together, the 120r is a beast and makes the cvo its installed in  the bas a$$ its built to be...

[ltank]

I have over 40,000 miles on my S & V 111. 585 cam and same lifters. No tapping. EVO motor has replaceable lifter blocks. Saves the case.

[Ridgerunr]

"IMHO this is the direct result of a management team that has been totally focused on cost cutting without regard for the degradation of quality and reliability that can often accompany such single minded cost cutting."

Totally agree. Auto industry people running Harley now, their buisness model is cut cut cut, get 'em out the door and let the dealers straighten them out.

[rottenroger]

I've heard in my bout with the lifter issue, that the valve guides are a contributing issue to the exhaust lifter/cam failure. Most of the failure the shop is seeing is the exhaust valve lifter. My mechanic recommended reworking the head with different valve guides that don't allow the syn oil to leak by and gum up the exhaust valve shaft.

[MrSurly]

I've heard in my bout with the lifter issue, that the valve guides are a contributing issue to the exhaust lifter/cam failure. Most of the failure the shop is seeing is the exhaust valve lifter. My mechanic recommended reworking the head with different valve guides that don't allow the syn oil to leak by and gum up the exhaust valve shaft.

That is interesting. Can anyone provide back up (a link) to this thinking?

[Jswerve]

That is interesting. Can anyone provide back up (a link) to this thinking?

All I can do is tell you that my engine failed in that manner. The exhaust valve stuck open on the rear cylinder head do to build up on the valve stem. When it stuck the intake valve clipped it and bent and I lost compression on the rear cylinder and the ECM cut the bike off. I decided not to replace the heads with stock parts and had a set of Deweys heads that Sachs had acquired shipped to the dealer and installed. No more junk guides in my baby.

[Rooster]

It was my rear cyl exhaust valve that was stuck open several years back on my 110 reworked heads by Dan Baisley. In the early 110 days everyone tried treating them the same as all others in the old ways to make more power and quickly found out that these 110's have to be dealt with a little differently than their predecessors. But I could be wrong.