bending push rods Harley Evo Sportster Discuss bending push rods in the Harley Sportster & Buell forums; Coming down the Grapevine this Summer my bike started loosing power. My crew following noticed some smoke so we pulled over at the first chance. I noticed an oil leak ...

[rpals]

Coming down the Grapevine this Summer my bike started loosing power. My crew following noticed some smoke so we pulled over at the first chance. I noticed an oil leak at the top of the pushrod tube and oil blowing onto the exhaust pipe. So the smoking issue was answered. When I fired her up I heard a knocking noise and could see the push rod tube moving, so I shut her down and found a stretcher to bring her home. Upon disassembly I found the exhaust push rod was bent. So I checked for problems with the valve train, found nothing out of tolerance. I asked several gear-heads what they thought and searched the internet for similar issues, all pointed to over-revving. I put everything back together and fired it up. It started knocking immediately and bent another push rod. This bike has had an Andrews N2 cam since mid 90's rebuilt the top end about 6000 miles ago. Has been a great ride up till now! ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEAS?

[frisco-rigid]

Hi R
Let me see if I understand..
For at least 6000 mi. you had no similar probs, then you get a pair of bent P-rods.. Was any kind of work done prior to this happening.?
Folks sugg it's from OverReving.. Sooo, were you overeving.?
You mention a crew,, were you at the track.?

The only time I bent a P-rod was in a Pk-up motor when I adjusted the Hyd-P-rods too tight, never did that again..
Who adjusts your P-rods.? Is it done correctly..

Frankly, that's what it sounds like,,,, in-correctly adjusted Push-Rods..

[rpals]

Thanks for the reply. The bike has an andrews N2 cam but has been on the bike from the beginning. The first push rod bent on the Grapevine run 70+ mph, no missed shifts or any crazy stunts, after checking for broken parts the second one bent immediately on start-up. Tore her down again and disassembled lifters, rocker, Tappet block, checked all tolerances were within specs, and reassembled. Now it's just plain noisy all across the valve train.

[evoKENevo]

rpal:
You claim you checked EVERYTHING and found NOTHING out of tolerence. Do I need to tell you that SOMETHINGS out of tolerence? Nawgh...did'nt think so !

Just plain noisey all across the valve train now...and no bent push rods ?? Sounds more & more like mal-adjusted push-rods..first too tight and now too loose. Are you sure your hyd-lifters have'nt crapped-out internally ? Did you allow enough time for them to bleed up/down before adjusting the others ? Heck...are you even using adjustible push-rods?

Could be something else,like a bent and/or sticky valve,etc...but let's just take this a step at a time,for now...and, I'm confident that others will have more suggestions/advise,if needed, as more & more info is provided.