It's been almost a month since I installed TW-222 cams in my 08 FXDB 96" twin cam. These cams are great and provided me with the perfomance boost I was looking for.
Today I was on the highway cruising through traffic when the bike started getting very loud and then I lost throttle response so I pulled to the side of the road and the bike shut down and would not come back on.
Got a tow home and immediately checked the pushrods.. sure enough, the exhaust rod on the rear cylinder was loose and the Jam nut was all the way to the end of the rod (no damage to rod threads). I pulled the rod out and noticed the retaining clip on my new S&S lifter was half out of its groove - see pic below. I pulled the clip out, inspected the lifter, no damage, then put it back together with a clip from my stock lifters, pumped it up, reinstalled and adjusted both rear cyl pushrods and inspected the front - nothing loose there.
I started the bike took it for a short 3 minute spin around the block and returned. I didn't notice any loss of power or poor performance, only that the front cylinder sounded a bit noisy which dampened down after I went around the block (but didn't go away completely) - Is there anything I should be keeping an eye on/ checking after this push rod mishap? I think I need to go back and readjust both sets of rods as I only did the rear today since nothing came loose on the front cylinder. Either way I'm paranoid that this may have caused damage to other engine components. Has anyone had a similar experience? was it just a matter of re-tightening? Are you still running strong without other complications?
There are other members that have experienced the same, myself included. In my case, that clip that retaining clip came all the way out. No mention of the push rod brand? The fact that the push rods are adjustable is a strong indication that the previous owner may have installed cams and if so, possibly made other performance modifications. If there is any way to run that to ground, it would be helpful to know what those modifications are.
If the pushrods are the HD Tapered Quick adjustable, the early units have a history of the jamb nuts cracking and/or breaking. The quality of the jamb nuts was the issue and the later units had higher quality jamb nuts. Could be that whoever adjusted the pushrods last, just didn't get them tight enough. Some will use a dab of Loctite to insure against jamb nuts from coming loose; Smith Brothers recommends it. I would not use the lifter that lost the clip and would replace it with a new one.
I see no reason to re-adjust the pushrods but it certainly won't hurt anything. If you do re-adjust, pre-load the lifter to .125-.140 deep; in many cases this additional pre-load has reduced valve train noise.
I had this same exact thing happen to me a couple years ago. I was rushing to get the bike done for a ride and sure enough one of those buggers came loose. 100% my fault. You really need to snug the hell out of them. I towed the bike home, set the lash, tightened it up and all was well.
I now put a slight dab of blue loctite on the threads right before I tighten them up. I would not use red nor would I use a lot. It can be argued that when you go to loosen them one day slight bits of loctite could get into the lifter bore area which is true. Just need to be aware of it and it is easily avoidable.
Adjustable pushrods can be a little of a pain to properly secure.. I use 3 wrenches when tightening down my S&S's.. Never used any loctite and never had an issue.. I prefer 32 TPI..
I had mine come loose after a couple of months of riding since gear drive cam install about 5 miles from the house. Limped it home on one cylinder and adjusted everything back to spec that night with a little dab of blue loctite. Never came apart after that.
There are other members that have experienced the same, myself included. In my case, that clip that retaining clip came all the way out. No mention of the push rod brand? The fact that the push rods are adjustable is a strong indication that the previous owner may have installed cams and if so, possibly made other performance modifications. If there is any way to run that to ground, it would be helpful to know what those modifications are.
I have been running adjustable push rods for 49 years. Solids and hydraulics. Even used bolt cutters to cut the pushrods out of my 2007 to install adjustable S&S pushrods. Have never had a malfunction of any kind . God knows how many times that I have adjusted them all of them over the years.. If you have had a pushrod malfunction. 99.9 % of the time it is operator error. Think about HD mechanics. If they can not adjust pushrods with out them backing off. How long will they keep their job?
10-28-2023, 02:47 PM
EZ-Pushrod Came Loose - Now What?
