Anyone ever use Crower hydraulic lifters? I got a cam kit from Crower and when I went to install the lifters noticed they're different than any others I've ever seen.

Every lifter I've seen the spring pushes the piston/plunger up against the retaining ring. With the Crower lifters the piston is loose - probably .1" down from the retainer - it rattles around when I shake the lifter.

I called Crower to talk with a tech about how to set the preload at the recommended .020-.050" below the retainer with the piston already .1" below the ring sitting on the spring. He said to pump them up first. Something I've heard you shouldn't do with new hydraulic lifters. Plus I'm not sure they would pump up without 40+ psi of oil pressure behind.

Anybody run into the same scenario with Crower lifters? How did you set the preload?

 

Well for the record I tried pumping up one of the lifters and it did indeed work as intended. They really should include that sort of info in the cam booklet. Booklet didn't say anything about cleaning the cam lobes either.

Anyway, the preload is good now with the same shim I tried before pumping the lifter. A bit surprised it needs a .060" shim with just a resurfacing of the head and block.

 

That is interesting, I'm curious what about them works differently. Why the unique design?

As for the 0.060" shim, how much did you have shaved off to resurface?

 

Are you talking about shims for the v.springs? If so, that is not affected by shaving the head surface. Shims are used, and of course you know this. I'm just saying it to go through it in my mind. Shims are used to get the man. recommended installed height, which is separate and independent of the head surface. If you are changing the shims to get correct geometry of the v. train, meaning too long of p.rods because the height has now changed due to milling/cleaning, then you are going about it the wrong way. The installed height does not change to suit a long/short p.rod. You need to buy a p.rod of a diff. length. That geo. is easier checked using a roller rocker and the witness method--the tip of the valve coated with a marker and then cranking the engine one turn, and removing to see where the roller touched the valve. stem. That will show you too long/too short. Good luck.

 

I believe he is referring to the shimming the pedestal mount rocker arms ( bolt in ) . That is a way to adjust preload & geometry without changing push rod length.

 

That's what I figured. The head dropped down, so you have to raise up the rocker arm just a touch to rebalance the geometry.

 

Me too; are these the ones that are supposed to be like Rhoads lifters (intended to extend the torque band of a hot cam), but less noisy?

 

Guys just want to mention that Ford offered standard, .060 longer and .060 shorter push rods for some engines with fixed, non adjustable rockers. The mention of the .060 shim made me think of it. Don't know if this info is of any use in this thread, but thought I'd add it. There is a window of clearance allowed between rocker and valve stem. When that gap is within spec, the plunger in the lifter is positioned correctly. There is a tool that goes on the rocker with a lever and you push all the oil out of the lifter to bottom the plunger then check the gap. Of course the engine has to be in position for particular cyls.

Reason for learning this, in the fleet I maintained, we bought a rebuilt 361 long block, it would not run right. Came down to some valves were not closing all the way. We found out about the different push rods and installed shorter pushrods where needed. There is a service manual procedure on this

 

Referring to the rocker shims, yes. There was .020", tops, taken off the head and block so the big shims is weird. I'd rather have a wee bit too little preload than .040" too much.

These are the standard lifters that match Crower's Ford cams. The 12 that were water damaged all rattled just like the 16 I ordered.

I'm not sure they pumped up much anyway once the rocker was tight. Any oil would just squeeze up the pushrod. Priming the oil pump/system ought shore them up though.

 

Ah, my head is old style, with stud mount rockers, so that never occurred to me. Bonk. Of course.

Interesting. I had .020 taken off the block, and the same off the head, but b/c I used sbc valves, which are longer than the ford ones, I ended up having to get p.rods that were .250 longer than oem.

 

btw the rhoads one are a bitch you can literally push on them and lift them when the engine is off they are noisey, but they do work.

my engine has a complete different pitch around 1800rpms and up i have the older style they have newer ones that i assume are MUCH nicer they say the usual adjustment for rockers zero lash and then back a 1/4 turn i believe? either way i dont like it and as soon as i can im swapping them out with my factory brand new set and hoping i dont hurt anything

 

Following up, I'll be replacing the Crower lifters with Melling lifters this weekend. I've reset the preload twice and even tried new rocker arms but a clatter in the rockers remains.

A quarter to half turn preload is a decent rule of thumb. Measuring with a dial indicator or by marking the pushrod at zero lash and when the rocker is torqued to spec is best.