Pushrods

[Greyhairracer]

That's what happened! The rear intake pushrod came loose. I re did all if them last night with 4 turns. All is good so far on two test rides and on my way to work this morning

What are the odds....I just had the exact same thing happen to mine. Recently installed a 585 cam in, adjusted everything - was running perfect. Took it out the other day to go to the hardware store; notice top end noise much more than normal, but it would come and go. Figured it might be a pushrod coming loose and would check them all again when I got home. About 1 1/2 miles from home, she really starts making terrible noise up top; starts popping and pissing, can tell it's only running on one cylinder. Nurse it home and sure as hell - rear intake had completely rolled back up. All others were fine. Readjusted last night, but I have one question - short of taking the pushrod completely out, how do you know you didn't bend the pushrod or lifter? Figured probably wouldn't damage the lifter or rocker arm....wondering if I should pull the cam back out and double check. Sorry for highjacking the thread. Any ideas??? When I spin the rod it moves a little bit, but figure it's the way it's sitting on the lifter.....????

 

[BadBrad]

Not sure if it was mentioned, but before adjusting any of the pushrods, collapse all 4 pushrods and let the lifters completely expand. Otherwise, zero lash may be with a lifter that has not fully adjusted prior to finding zero lash and that would not be a proper adjustment. Follow Little Boo's procedure. Pull plugs, collapse all 4 pushrods, wait 15 minutes, then turn rear wheel until a lifter is at it highest point and adjust the opposite cylinder pushrod of the same valve (intake or exhaust) to 4 turns. And also like mentioned above, tighten the hell out of the lock nut. Wait 15 minutes and you should be able to spin the pushrod you just adjusted by hand. Then turn the wheel till another rod is in its highest position and adjust the opposite cylinder of that same valve. Follow this until all four pushrods are adjusted. Be sure to wait 15 minutes on that last pushrod before turning the wheel again to give that lifter time to adjust or you could cause damage.

 

[Greyhairracer]

Not sure if it was mentioned, but before adjusting any of the pushrods, collapse all 4 pushrods and let the lifters completely expand. Otherwise, zero lash may be with a lifter that has not fully adjusted prior to finding zero lash and that would not be a proper adjustment. Follow Little Boo's procedure. Pull plugs, collapse all 4 pushrods, wait 15 minutes, then turn rear wheel until a lifter is at it highest point and adjust the opposite cylinder pushrod of the same valve (intake or exhaust) to 4 turns. And also like mentioned above, tighten the hell out of the lock nut. Wait 15 minutes and you should be able to spin the pushrod you just adjusted by hand. Then turn the wheel till another rod is in its highest position and adjust the opposite cylinder of that same valve. Follow this until all four pushrods are adjusted. Be sure to wait 15 minutes on that last pushrod before turning the wheel again to give that lifter time to adjust or you could cause damage.

Brad,
Did all this - lifters had completely collapsed during the cam install, so that was not the issue. Somehow the locknut came loose on the adjuster nut which caused the adjuster to collapse all the way up.....my concern is during the ride home, although running at very low engine rpm (less than 2k) what are the odds the pushrod got bent from smacking against the lifter since it was completely out of the seat? I spun the rod in the lifter now after readjusting and can't really tell if it's bent....would it be better to remove the pushrod altogether and do it old school? Roll it on a flat surface to see if it's straight? Would hate to cause more damage.....

Thanks!!

 

[nine lives]

Guys, when you lock down the rods use three wrenches. One on the top, one on the bottom, and one on the lock nut. Just put the 600 cam in mine last night, used three turns from zero, no valve noise.

 

[V]

Brad,
Did all this - lifters had completely collapsed during the cam install, so that was not the issue. Somehow the locknut came loose on the adjuster nut which caused the adjuster to collapse all the way up.....my concern is during the ride home, although running at very low engine rpm (less than 2k) what are the odds the pushrod got bent from smacking against the lifter since it was completely out of the seat? I spun the rod in the lifter now after readjusting and can't really tell if it's bent....would it be better to remove the pushrod altogether and do it old school? Roll it on a flat surface to see if it's straight? Would hate to cause more damage.....

Thanks!!

If you're going to the effort of removing a pushrod it would be faster and less down time to cut them all and install a set of time saver pushrods, that way you won't have to pull the rocker assemblies to get the pushrod out.

With the time saver you can cut your existing push rods with a pair of bolt cutters, install the time saver push rods and leave the top end alone.

I know what you're sayin about when you're not sure if you have a prob our not. That kinda shit worries the hell out of me and I'm not satisfied until I do pull it apart and have a look see.

V

 

[BadBrad]

Like V says, you never know, but if you have the pushrod cover off the pushrod in question and spin the pushrod, you should be able to tell if it's bent, especially if it's bad. Had the same thing happen on my wife's Mastiff. Locknut came loose, lost all compression in that cylinder, got it home and re-adjusted. I just spun it around and inspected it for damage. Still runs good. If it looks straight and runs good after adjusting, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Greyhairracer]

It's all good. Got home from work last night and pulled it all apart; cam, lifters, pushrod in question. Checked everything good - no damage. Big load of the mind now!!!
Put it all back together and she fired right up - no noise except normal. Still can't fugure out how it came loose with all the others still tight....regardless, I'll probably run it about a hundred miles or so and then recheck all of them. Thanks for the feedback!!!:up: