Adjustable pushrods hitting tubes : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

BluHarley · 07-26-2009, 01:57 PM

Hey All,
I installed adjustable pushrods in my evo, and they bang the hell out of the tubes. I've trimmed the inner tubes 1/2 inch, but they still make a lot of noise. How far do they need to be trimmed, or is there and after market tube that gives them enough room? Thanks.

NHFree1 · 07-26-2009, 10:14 PM

What brand of adjustable rods did you use? I have the HD ones that cost about $100 for the set and they fit fine with the stock tubes. Sounds silly, but are you sure your tubes are seated correctly with the o-rings? Are the adjustables hitting only one side of the tubes or all the way around the inside? I believe some brands of rods need larger diameter aftermarket tubes.

BluHarley · 07-27-2009, 08:59 AM

Are those from Harley EZ-=Install?? The crap I have are "Street Perfomer" from MadDog Racing. They are junk. The tubes are seated well, but these pushrods are junk. The aren't straight, they are weak, and they are fat. I just ordered some Taper-Lite from Rivera Engineering, I heard one guy say he didn't have any problems with those. I didn't even call HD, my local HD dealer is so expensive, 25% more than his partners here in the Tampa area, I don't even think to call them. For $100 from HD, they aren't EZ-Install, are they?

kennyflhr · 07-27-2009, 06:20 PM

Check out the ones from v thunder. I'm running a set on a 561 cam & love them. They are strong & are they are very easy to install( quick install) & have the best adjusters I've ever used. They are about the same price as the HD that I had & they wre crap!!

NHFree1 · 07-27-2009, 07:53 PM

I believe they are called EZ Install. Sounds familiar. They are easy to install...so the name would fit.

Stubby3492 · 07-30-2009, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BluHarley

I just ordered some Taper-Lite from Rivera Engineering, I heard one guy say he didn't have any problems with those.

I have the Rivera taper-lites in mine with a EV27 cam. I find them to be quite fat as well. The front exhaust pushrod bangs on the inside of the tube. I shortened the inner tube about 1/2". It is better now, but it still hammers away in there. The pushrod is straigt, but you can see a wear mark on the pushrod where it rubs on the tube. I think I;m going to buy some skinnier ones, or try to find some fatter tubes.

Stubby

BluHarley · 07-30-2009, 08:21 AM

If you find fatter tubes, can you let me know? The Taper-Lites are 1/16 inch thinner than the ones I had in there, and they're straighter. But I still have my problem, so I'm still hunting for source of the racket. When it gets hot (running temp), it sounds like all hell is breaking loose in the engine, I can't tell where it's coming from....

Dr.Hess · 07-30-2009, 12:15 PM

Blu, get one of those mechanic's stethoscopes at Harbor Freight for about five bucks. Then when it's making noise, go around touching various parts of the motor and you'll find where the noise is coming from.

BluHarley · 07-30-2009, 12:33 PM

Thanks Dr. I have one of those, and I keep looking (listening). A lot of noise coming from the gear box, but I would expect that even in a healthy engine. The noise seems to be in rythm with the cam, not a steady crunch, but a rythmical crunch. I'm starting to think I'm kicking a dead horse, she may be done, at least for now. I'm putting in new lifters now, but I don't think that's going change the problem. Next step is to pull the rocker boxes just for fun and see if there's any abnormalities there. If it's the gear box, it will have to wait for the money. 89,000 miles on a Harley, I guess that's about all I can get out of her.

Dr.Hess · 07-30-2009, 01:02 PM

Poke on the lifter blocks, poke on the middle of the push rod tubes, poke on the rocker boxes on the right side, particularly the bottom one, poke on the head on the right back in behind the push rod tubes and just above them. Where is the sound loudest?

If you have the original lifters, they are almost certainly shot. The cam could be gone as well.

BluHarley · 07-30-2009, 03:16 PM

Thanks Doc. I poked around a bit before I put it up for the day. It sounds like something is going on in the rocker boxes. I'll tear her down tomorrow. I'd love to change the cam, but the bucks just aren't there right now. I'd like to get a rebuilt engine really, but that ain't gonna happen either.

charlestonsc · 08-07-2009, 07:29 AM

I like crane chrome moly pushrods. Running them on my EVO with an Andrews EV 46 Cam and my EVO with and Andrews EV 3 Cam. No problems.

sparxxx · 08-12-2009, 11:55 AM

Had my Maddog pushrods installed for a month. Absolute rubbish. The only ones that remained straight after tightening the locknuts was the intake ones. The other two were rubbing against the covers. Front exhaust was a nightmare. Got me a set of Andrews adjustable now.

gldrrdr · 08-12-2009, 01:04 PM

I went with the SE easy install adjustables when I put in the andrews 26H cams. Found them on ebay for $117.They come complete with the shorter lower tube to make adjustment easy. No issues.

BluHarley · 08-12-2009, 01:20 PM

Glad to hear I'm not the only guy that tried the Maddog crap. I have Taper-Lites now, and they're nice, but I still have a problem. When it gets hot, I get this SCREACHING noise, and it seems to come from everywhere, and it's in rhythm with the cam. I tore the engine down, and the only thing I see is the rocker shafts are wearing on one side, and the bushing in the ricker is also wearing. It's happening to ALL of them. It almost looks like I had the pushrods to tight, but they are 40 threads per inch, and the instructions say 4 full turns, which equals one hundred thousandths, which is correct. Next week I'm going to take the heads and cylinders into the shop for a sprucing up and ask them what's going on with my rockers.