Bleed new lifters?

[fbn ent]

Just getting ready to install my new Johnson's. I have never bled lifters in anything. How important and how?

[FXDBI]

I soak them overnight before installing.  After engine assembly and before starting I remove the plugs and turn it over until the oil light goes out, wait 10 mins and repeat the process. Then install the plugs and start up has worked great every time.   Bob

[fbn ent]

Yeah, that's what I usually do. Just overthinking again.

[kd]

I agree with the cranking cycles to get the oil pressure up and engine oil charging the lifters.  I have never agreed with the physics of simple soaking.  Most lifters are charged with light assembly oil as opposed to heavier engine lube.  What causes the light oil to be exchanged with engine oil while soaking?      

Some pump the light oil out and leave the air in them.  Then place them in a sealed jar of engine oil and apply vacuum.  You can see the air bubbling out and that means engine oil is taking its place.  Otherwise the series of cranking to oil light is really doing the same by replacing the oil.  It should result in a silent startup if they are adjusted properly.

[fbn ent]

Yes, I just watched the video of the vacuum approach. Interesting but I don't have a vacuum pump. 

[FXDBI]

Put them in a jar fill with oil, place jar in big zip lock bag and duct tape to shop vac end.  Bob

[smoserx1]

I'm not a mechanic but I have changed my lifters 3 times now and all I have done is dip the lifter in a cup of oil to coat the outside before dropping it into the bore.  Everybody says wait till the lifter bleeds down and the pushrods will spin before rotating the engine so I'm not sure I see the point of trying get as much oil as possible in beforehand.  Anyway each time I did it they made a little noise the first time the engine started then got quiet in just a few swconds.

[FXDBI]

I'm not a mechanic but I have changed my lifters 3 times now and all I have done is dip the lifter in a cup of oil to coat the outside before dropping it into the bore.  Everybody says wait till the lifter bleeds down and the pushrods will spin before rotating the engine so I'm not sure I see the point of trying get as much oil as possible in beforehand.  Anyway each time I did it they made a little noise the first time the engine started then got quiet in just a few swconds.

3 sets of lifters in the same bike/engine?         Initial start up is where most life shorting of new parts occurs. Bob

 

[smoserx1]

3 sets of lifters in the same bike/engine?         Initial start up is where most life shorting of new parts occurs. Bob

Yes, and my bike is a 1999 FLHT with 238272 miles on it as of today.  So no I don't think the 3 sets of lifters I replaced, plus an additional set the dealer replaced due to a rear cam bearing failure is excessive.

[motorhogman]

3 sets of lifters in the same bike/engine?         Initial start up is where most life shorting of new parts occurs. Bob

Yes, and my bike is a 1999 FLHT with 238272 miles on it as of today.  So no I don't think the 3 sets of lifters I replaced, plus an additional set the dealer replaced due to a rear cam bearing failure is excessive.

My 01 FLHT only has 120,000 mi on it. I think I'm on my 4th set of lifters. Installed S&S Precisions last time because I had a set of HyLifts with 2,500 mi in there with one of them banging away like a hammer on a frying pan on cold start up after the bike sat for a few days.. Previous to that when the bike was young dealers replaced them a couple of times under warranty. First set was replaced at less than 10,000 mi. 

[turboprop]

Just getting ready to install my new Johnson's. I have never bled lifters in anything. How important and how?

Everything surrounding TC lifters can and will be debated forever. Sort of like the beer commercial, 'Taste Great/Less Filling'. You are going to get responses here that range from do nothing to elaborate fixtures and processes. Good grief.

If you feel you must do something, a good middle of the road TTP is to take a simple oil pumper can filled with whatever motor oil you have and pump oil through the feed hole until it comes out the pushrod hole. An oil pumper can with a rubber tip would work well but not required.

[kd]

Just getting ready to install my new Johnson's. I have never bled lifters in anything. How important and how?

Everything surrounding TC lifters can and will be debated forever. Sort of like the beer commercial, 'Taste Great/Less Filling'. You are going to get responses here that range from do nothing to elaborate fixtures and processes. Good grief.

If you feel you must do something, a good middle of the road TTP is to take a simple oil pumper can filled with whatever motor oil you have and pump oil through the feed hole until it comes out the pushrod hole. An oil pumper can with a rubber tip would work well but not required.

Yep, done that too.  Last week had a small block Chevy with new lifters not oiling.  They got the oiler can treatment to see if it was just air in the galleries.  The can MUST be surgical clean though.  That one speck of dirt in a lifter is a step backwards. 

(BTW, it wasn't air.  It was the wrong race lifters shipped.     They are designed to not oil until upper RPM.)

[smoserx1]

I had a set of HyLifts with 2,500 mi in there with one of them banging away like a hammer on a frying pan on cold start up after the bike sat for a few days.

The OEM lifters that came in my 99 would clatter like that every morning when I started the bike, and did this from the very first day I owned it.  I was a member of a forum back then called Biker Heaven and lots of other folks were complaining about it.  You know if you think about it unless you are running something like a solid lifter or one with a travel limiter, every time you shut down your engine there is likely to be a valve or two that stops open and it will cause that respective lifter to bleed down till either the valve closes or the lifter runs out of space inside its chamber.  if you don't hear a clatter on startup you have lifters that pump up before they can make any noise.  Just knowing that, and the fact that when adjusting pushrods you must to wait till the lifters bleed down before moving the engine I just don't understand the need to try and get a lifter chock full of oil before installing it, but that is just me.  The last lifters I replaced about 2 years ago, I did soak them in a jar of oil for several days first.  Did it make any difference, I don't know (they clattered a little initially) but I kind of doubt it, and sure don't think it did any damage.

[Hossamania]

Every now and then a lifter will clatter for a second, maybe two, and then quiet down. Works for me, as long as it quiets I'm ok with it. I do not chase minor annoyances on the bikes anymore. It just costs unnecessary time and money. I've not blown a motor yet, certainly not from lack of trying.
100,000 miles on my B lifters right now, 40,000 on my S&S standards, which are actually noisier at start up than my B's.
Sorry, this doesn't help the op with the pre-oil query. I think the best thing to do, as mentioned earlier, is crank the motor over until you have pressure before doing a first start. But then, I don't build motors, and rarely work on them anymore.

[hattitude]

I've don't work on my bikes as much as most of you..

But I have changed lifters maybe 7 or 8 times...

Each time I just "pump up" the lifter with one of those oil styles oil cans. 

I then throw them in a jar of oil overnight. I install them, button up the engine, and usually start it within a few days..

I only remember one time hearing the lifters clattering for about 20 seconds before quieting down...

[kd]

That does work well for loading them.  Being extra sanitary with the tip and can in general is real important.  It doesn't take much to foul a lifter.

[tdrglide]

I just use a small syringe without needle and force oil in the feed hole until some comes out the top. Then squirt some in the roller. Normal assembly after that.
Finish assembly and adjust. If just replacing lifters, fire it up and let it idle. If oil pump was also removed then I crank it over until I see oil pressure  first before starting

[itsafatboy]

Are these with limiters?, 

[tdrglide]

Either way

Limiters will clatter a little longer.

[Deye76]

"place them in a sealed jar of engine oil and apply vacuum.  You can see the air bubbling out"

My wife's Food Saver came with varying size round containers, I used the smallest one filled halfway with motor oil, hook up the food saver, hit the vacuum button easy to see the bubbles, worked well. 

[fbn ent]

"place them in a sealed jar of engine oil and apply vacuum.  You can see the air bubbling out"

My wife's Food Saver came with varying size round containers, I used the smallest one filled halfway with motor oil, hook up the food saver, hit the vacuum button easy to see the bubbles, worked well. 

  We have one!