120r Rebuild

[geezerglide11441]

This is an "aaa shit post"!! A couple weeks ago my 120r motor ate a lifter (front cylinder intake), and not aware what was wrong i tried to make it home (knew something was wrong but not exactly what) and only got about 2-3 miles and all went to hell!!

It took out almost everything!! New Cases/new flywheel and rods assembly/new cams and cam chains (broke the inner cam chain and broke off teeth on the front cam)/new SE cam plate/new SE High volume oil pump/new push rods (bent the front intake substantially)/new SE Roller Rockers/new AV&V Valve Springs.

Basically a new motor on a piece by piece basis. We also installed new SE .oo10 over pistons as a safety measure. however this did give me the opportunity to dumb down the cam to something a with a little better street manners.

As a precaution to anyone using the "Gaterman Lifers", mine is the third incedent I have heard about since mine took a dump! Let that be an alert to anyone that currently have them installed!!

Roger

 

[msocko3]

How many miles on the lifters before it took a dump on you? Its a shame Gaterman lifters used to be a pretty good lifter for the price. I'm partial to S&S and Head-Quarters Black ops lifters, Bob Wood offers a pretty good lifter also but its priced like he's mighty proud of them.

One thing most folks don't know is lifters are a maintenance item, I won't run a set past 50,000 miles. The new 'C' lifters Harley is installing in the twin cam these days are little grenades just waiting for the pin to be pulled, they sourced them from the cheapest supplier in Mexico.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

How bad is the case? If its scored badly you might still be able to have the lifter bore sleeved.

I just pulled my last set of 99B lifters in my 124" for inspection@13k miles. At 25k miles I'm installing my new GMR lifters

Sorry for your engine imploding on you.

 

[SEAlaskan]

Sorry to hear that, glade your ok. Boy you just scared the heck out of me, I happen to have a set of Gaterman lifters in my 120r. I just happen to have a set of Black Ops that I had in my 103 before converting the 103 to a 107, hopefully they'll fit. The Black Ops has low mileage on them, so should be still good I would think, I hope they are long enough to accommodate the stroke travel.
Thank you for letting us know
Butch

 

[geezerglide11441]

How many miles on the lifters before it took a dump on you? Its a shame Gaterman lifters used to be a pretty good lifter for the price. I'm partial to S&S and Head-Quarters Black ops lifters, Bob Wood offers a pretty good lifter also but its priced like he's mighty proud of them.

One thing most folks don't know is lifters are a maintenance item, I won't run a set past 50,000 miles. The new 'C' lifters Harley is installing in the twin cam these days are little grenades just waiting for the pin to be pulled, they sourced them from the cheapest supplier in Mexico.

Lifters had about 10K to 12K on them and I do not abuse my motors!! I have never red lined the motor, and I was cruising along at 2850rpms in 6th when she went South on me. My mechanic stated that he had never seen a cam chain brake like this one did. It also broke at least half of the teeth on the front cylinder cam. Quite a mess.

I checked several sources for Lifters and settled on the Delphi lifters, which I was told that is what the S&S lifters are. The guy doing my over bore and my heads is going to use the V&V Valve Springs which are a little less strength than the ones that come with the MVA Heads.

Oh well, shit happens!!

- - - Updated - - -

How bad is the case? If its scored badly you might still be able to have the lifter bore sleeved.

I just pulled my last set of 99B lifters in my 124" for inspection@13k miles. At 25k miles I'm installing my new GMR lifters

Sorry for your engine imploding on you.

You are correct, I could have sleeved the lifter bore and had one oversize lifter but chose to not go that route. The new build will actually be a new motor!! New cases/crank & rod assembly/new SE cam plate/new SE HD oil pump/ new Smith adj push rods/new T-man 577SM cams/new V&V Valve Springs/new bronze valve guides/new SE .0010 over pistons in new bore job.

Thanks for the read/comments!!

Roger

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Sorry to hear that, glade your ok. Boy you just scared the heck out of me, I happen to have a set of Gaterman lifters in my 120r. I just happen to have a set of Black Ops that I had in my 103 before converting the 103 to a 107, hopefully they'll fit. The Black Ops has low mileage on them, so should be still good I would think, I hope they are long enough to accommodate the stroke travel.
Thank you for letting us know
Butch

Butch, the company that is doing my head work (and the one that originally sold me the Gaterman Lifters), when I spoke to him he stated that he knew of 1 or 2 others that had issues with the Gaterman Lifters. He also told me that after doing some research on his own that he dis-continued carrying/selling the Gaterman's and has switched to stocking/selling the Delphi Lifter. He is also giving a 30% discount to anyone that had purchased the Gaterman's from him if they wanted to switch to the Delphi. I have 4 riding friends that have high performance motors (2 - 107"s, 1-120" and 1- 131" and they are all considering getting rid of the Gaterman's.

I am going to be in this re-build about 5K so you can see I am not a happy camper!!

Roger

 

[SEAlaskan]

Ya, I would be one pissed off person if that had happened to me. I'll be changing out the lifters for sure now, to what I'm not sure yet, I have less then 2000 miles on the set I have in the engine now, I didn't get to use the trike much this year.
Butch

 

[msocko3]

Sorry to hear that, glade your ok. Boy you just scared the heck out of me, I happen to have a set of Gaterman lifters in my 120r. I just happen to have a set of Black Ops that I had in my 103 before converting the 103 to a 107, hopefully they'll fit. The Black Ops has low mileage on them, so should be still good I would think, I hope they are long enough to accommodate the stroke travel.
Thank you for letting us know
Butch

The Black Ops will fit, the lifters in a Twin Cam are all the same size and length no matter what has been done to the bore, stroke etc.

 

[trikermutha]

Man that is tough..well hope this new setup works better for you.
I wouldn't be happy either for what happened..

Good Luck..

 

[SEAlaskan]

The Black Ops will fit, the lifters in a Twin Cam are all the same size and length no matter what has been done to the bore, stroke etc.

Thanks, that is good to hear, wasn't sure.
Butch

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I can understand cleaning the heads up a little. But why new valve guides already at 12k miles? Was there an issue with the guides being loose in the heads?

 

[msocko3]

I can understand cleaning the heads up a little. But why new valve guides already at 12k miles? Was there an issue with the guides being loose in the heads?

:Agree:Good question.

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

Bent valves is the reason for new guides

 

[geezerglide11441]

I can understand cleaning the heads up a little. But why new valve guides already at 12k miles? Was there an issue with the guides being loose in the heads?

No apparent issue with the OEM valve guides, but the guy doing my overbore and head work said the iron guides (in his opinion are junk) should be replaced with bronze guides. All the head work he performs, he replaces the OEM guides.

Works for me since he had the heads apart anyway. Also, found out yesterday from talking to him that my front intake valve was bent from lightly touching the piston!! Should have it all back together early next week and am really excited to see how it performs. epper:

Roger

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:Agree:Good question.

The guy doing the cylinder work and head work (HD Street Performance) does not like the OEM valve guides in the SE MVA heads and made the suggestion so I decided to go with his recommendation. He has done head work for several of my friends and they all like his attention to detail and overall performance of any work he does.

Roger

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I cant speak for HD guides but other Iron valve guides are quality and will work for many trouble free miles.

 

[msocko3]

I cant speak for HD guides but other Iron valve guides are quality and will work for many trouble free miles.

:Agree:Normally more miles than the softer bronze.