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nub cam question

NickS

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working on a 2002 softail standard. stock 88" that now is a 98" , upgrading to andrews 37g cams, no head work done, yet, running adjustable push rods. I have read and read through this site on bleeding push rods and we "think" we have accomplished it but we have yet to start the bike. still pretty worried if we did it right.

so we did as follows, piston at TDC adjusted both rods till rod had no vertical movement but spun freely, tightened down. repeated for oppossite cylinder. BTW...we are reusing the stock lifters (took them out, did not soak in oil, kept them in ziplock bag).

do you think it is safe to try and start? I know enough to get in trouble and can definitely tell what lifter noise is, but what if our adjustment is short (i.e. valve not opening far enough)

any ideas are helpful. we have months of our blood sweat and tears into this and dont want a bent rod to ruin our day.
 
working on a 2002 softail standard. stock 88" that now is a 98" , upgrading to andrews 37g cams, no head work done, yet, running adjustable push rods. I have read and read through this site on bleeding push rods and we "think" we have accomplished it but we have yet to start the bike. still pretty worried if we did it right.

so we did as follows, piston at TDC adjusted both rods till rod had no vertical movement but spun freely, tightened down. repeated for oppossite cylinder. BTW...we are reusing the stock lifters (took them out, did not soak in oil, kept them in ziplock bag).

do you think it is safe to try and start? I know enough to get in trouble and can definitely tell what lifter noise is, but what if our adjustment is short (i.e. valve not opening far enough)

any ideas are helpful. we have months of our blood sweat and tears into this and dont want a bent rod to ruin our day.

What I'm reading is you just took the slop out of the pushrod then tightened the jam nut. If that is what you did then it is WRONG. You need to take up the free play then lenghten them the amount that the pushrod instructions tell you. THEN lock them down.
 
thanks glider. I have read that once and just forced myself to read again. It sounds like we have gotten the slop out but we need to adjust our crane rods another 3 turns. would it hurt for us to go 1.5 turns and see how it sounds?


If your Using Crane you need to see what there specs are not all pushrods have the same Threads per inch so it could be more or less to adjust them properly
 
thanks glider. I have read that once and just forced myself to read again. It sounds like we have gotten the slop out but we need to adjust our crane rods another 3 turns. would it hurt for us to go 1.5 turns and see how it sounds?

You need to know the tpi of the pushrods. Whatever number it is, you multiply that number times 0.125" (this is the amount of piston travel you want to take up - half the total travel). This product is the number of turns you need to turn from zero lash AT LEAST! I suggest another flat or two. You want to go MORE, rather than less.

Zoom through this pictorial until you see the part about adjusting the rods:

TQ's Engine Build - Harley Davidson Community

TQ
 
Last edited:
You need to know the tpi of the pushrods. Whatever number it is, you multiply that number times 0.125" (this is the amount of piston travel you want to take up - half the total travel). This product is the number of turns you need to turn from zero lash AT LEAST! I suggest another flat or two. You want to go MORE, rather than less.

Zoom through this pictorial until you see the part about adjusting the rods:

TQ's Engine Build - Harley Davidson Community

TQ

from the instruction sheet i found online.

"push rods are 24 tpi. With 24 tpi one flat equals .0069". One turn (6 flats) equals .0417".

"when installing pushrods with stock style lifters, turn the adjuster out 3 turns (18 flats) from zero lash."

thanks for the tips so far guys, im getting more confident. sounds like I am at least 15 flats off.
 
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