Solid roller lifters for big block...

..which ones you guys running, I have been looking them over and like the bushing style as opposed to the needle bearing's,has anyone had any luck with Howards or MRL brands??

I was going to buy MRL myself until my racing buddy had a major failure with them. The roller fell off & destroyed a lobe on his cam. I'm using comp cams offset on both of my motors. Never had a failure that was related to the rollers.

I'm using comps with about 3-4 years now no problems yet

Cranes. For the life of me I can't understand why the one's with bushings cost more than the rollers.

Isky Red zones. No problems so far.

One of the best right there and had em installed and ran em but low oil pressure was an issue in un-bushed block so Isky sent me their solid body lifters and after several years/miles and one rebuild, we`re golden..........

That makes no sense to me either.

I have the Steens in stock----USA made--super quality--good as Comps if not way better $375 set yea you can't Google them--they keep low profile and just keep on making some of the best private label parts ever--
Good to 650 open easy as pie want 750 and up on open--( you lifter killer you) go with some bushed Morels and pay out the y8ing yang OR...run reasonable lower pressures than are asked for by the crazy computer designed lobe crowd--run a reasonable lobe and get by with less $$$ lifters or...pay $900 for lifters run 1000 lbs open and still loose that bracket race round by .003
These days the newest lobes "require" stupid spring pressures you are probably not in a COMP Eliminator class turning 11K RPM so ...
Keep it reasonable--keep it in one piece--keep $$ under control
Stay away from Johnsons ( labeled as many names you know)
Steens are way cool lifters for the dough

What diameter is the lifter wheen on the Steens??

do they make offset lifters?

no offsets I think wheel is .750 have to check but feel sure that is what they are

MRL sells BAM Products lifters, which are manufactured by a former Crane engineer. It bothers me to hear about that failure, since I bought a set from MRL because they fit my lifter bores better (less clearance) than the COMP / IMM offset lifters I also have. This is the first failure of a BAM lifter I've heard about...

$900. . I got some Jesel tool steel tie bar lifters, check the price out on those !!!!

I'm not a salesman…nor do I attempt to persuade, but here’s some food for thought;
*The best lifters in existence for the most extreme applications do not use bushings.
*Bushings require far more oil supply and flow to prevent skidding.
*Rollers can survive and provide less friction with minimal oil supply.
*Rollers run cooler.
*Load moment on rollers are no different than bushings.
*It’s not the needle v/s bushing concept that prevents or promotes failure.
And finally……
*OEM manufactures do not use bushings. Manufacturing cost in a high production environment would be significantly less with bushings – add that up over millions of OEM lifters produced…..why wouldn’t they use them if they were better and cheaper to produce?

FWIW
Bushed lifters NEED OIL all recent improvements to bushed units is in "oil to bushing" dept Every sort of groove/hole/ditch/passage is being employed BEST ADVICE IS--keep using a normal sane lobe not some stupid -may make another 5 HP computer designed crap lobe that requires giant spring pressure

and...to help prevent "skidding" we have always bead blasted roller lobes adding a "tooth" to them --after tear down it always looks better on the ramps after this easy cheap band-aid
before we did this ramps would show "skidding" This is in circle track applications---it can't hurt IMO

If the manufacturer has a design to cost initiative .....which I am sure they have had, then we can see the benefit. A cheaper alternative. An they haven't switched over. my

Well, I've been running bushed Crower bushed lifters for 3 years. My spring pressures are 450 on the seat, 1200 open. My 55mm roller cam is close to an inch. So far I have had no failures and that's what it takes to make a predator engine run. I haven't run 650 open pressures in 20 years but if I did, the needle bearing Morel or Comps would be fine. I had problems with those when I got into the 750-800 lbs range, but I have friends that run the Manley 221424 springs and standard offset Comps and they get 200 passes without a problem. I really like the bushed lifters as if they do start to wear out, they don't deposit extremely hard little needle bearings somewhere in your engine. JMO

iv been using morels for about 10yrs now under 600#open pressure. no failures yet. had them rebuilt 3yrs ago. i think i paid $250 for them at the time. sounds like the sheens or morel are the way to go. the morels work great in an unbushed block. the lifter oil galleys leaked real bad on my 360 block with comp and crane lifters. im now going to use them under 650# on my current combo. we will see how it go's.

I agree!!
Just figure most guys here are bracket racers and should stay in the "safe" lane lobe wise but cam makers tend act like we all have an engine like yours and get regular guys off in the weeds with crazy high pressures On the dyno you can really see the diff in lobes and what it takes to control the newest lobes--it is relaxing to run an "old" style lobe that can be controlled with lower pressures--they can still make big beautiful HP in most stock block combos
The proof of all this conversation is the trend of everyone having lifter issues and crushing out the needles--the conversation always starts out--"well..my cam grinder said I need 1000 open" then " I got 20 runs and wheel fell off of lifters" always comes back to the "new" cam they started using

I miss the days of the old .590 solid in a 440 and a J converter--:)

I miss the days of the old .590 solid in a 440 and a J converter--:)

Amen

This is good info guy's, I don't intend on using a cam with anywhere near the 450 on the seat or 1200 over the nose, somthing closer to 240 on the seat and mid 600 range in lift, I am presently running Crane ultra pro's in my small block with out failure and have no problem running them again but I am just testing the waters as to what others are using with good results.

my unbushed lifter bores in my 360 block leak real bad with the crane ultra pros. do you have bushed bores in your block?

I hurt an offset Comp with 275/800 at 160 passes. Caught it when the lash opened up .007" during my normal 25 pass check. I bought the bushed Isky Red Zones as my friend who runs over 1" of lift (400/1000)in a 615 BB Chevy has had sets go over 400 passes, never hurt one.
Doug

Yes I do.

I thought Cam FX were the shizz bizz?

That's debatable.

Allow me to condense it a little - The best lifters in existence for the most extreme applications do not use bushings.
Do you think they would use needle bearings in a fuel motor if they were inferior to bushings?.....think of the cylinder pressure combined with static spring load that is required to open the exhaust valve here....just saying.....

Please expand on this thought.

Since you have bushed bores then you have more options. I have a new set of Crower lifters which are designed for a bushed block. They can pushrod oil if you want that too. These are new but I can't use them since my block isn't bushed. I'll make you a good price on them if you want.

if your only putting 10 passes or less it wouldn't mater, would it? I'm sure needle bearings could be a very slight advsntage. No way they last as long.
Doug

Fuel engines use a solid bar with no roller tip on the exhaust rocker. The roller will NOT stand up to the exhaust valve pressures on those engines.

I sure am enjoying reading this thread. Just a few weeks ago I started a "winter maintenance" thread on changing to Isky bushed lifters in my 100% street driven HEMI. (I am still waiting for the lifters to arrive). The real life experiences shared on here are helpful. But what about those of us running a solid roller on the street at LOW rpm? My understanding is that is the hardest on roller lifters as there is very little oil splash/feed at idle and low rpm.
For me it came down to this: With needle bearings, there is a chance of severe damage or even losing an engine. Possibly hundreds of miles from home. With bushings, I may have wear that causes me to have to rebuild/change them but I will NOT lose an expensive engine due to a needle bearing going through it.
As a side note: The Isky top of the line bushed lifters w/oil feed to the trunion, are several times more expensive than the prices listed so far on this post. But to me they are cheap compared to the engine that I am installing them in.

Agreed. An engine builder friend, that I race with, will NOT use anything but a Morel style lifter. He builds 5.00 bore Chevys with over 1,500hp n/a on a single 4 barrel!!!

I'm really suprised that a "good" lifter company would use the smaller .750 wheels on thier better roller lifters instead of the .820, .840 or larger roller wheels The larger the diameter of the roller wheel the less revoluotions it will make during a run which helps prevent early failures All the better solid roller lifters I've bought and used, no matter which brands, all have had the larger .820 or bigger wheels in the last 5 to 8 yrs on there Mopar .903 or .904 roller lifters

Most everything we do here is at a fairly high level and in the past had always used Jesel "keyway" lifters and never had an issue, other than the price. On the advice of Charlie @ Buck Racing Engines, I switched over to Cam FX lifters and have been nothing but pleased. They hold up as well as the Jesels and are a good bit cheaper.

Have also used Morel's in other combos with no issues. While some get good results from the $350 Comps and others in that price range, it all depends on the combination and pressures involved. Like some of the others though, I haven't built a motor with low spring pressures in several years, because that's just not what we do...........But I will say, that I recently built a fairly moderate motor for myself, for a mostly street deal, with a much milder cam profile. I still used a "good" lifter in it, just for the peace of mind. Have had and seen too many failures from the "cheaper" lifters and just won't risk it. We see issues with the bodies starting to "fork" at the bottom, then other problems ensue

I am not looking for a cheaper lifter just looking for good options in case I cannot get what I want at the time I need them, when I bought the Cranes back 6 or so years ago I was under the understanding that the ultra-pro series was a very good lifter at the time and I was looking for pushrod oiling also so thats the ones that I selected, I later found out that the set I aquired was the last known new set in existance, (this was back when crane was having difficulties and wasn't producing alot of stuff anymore)so I almost didn't get them,what would I of setteled for? who knows,,,and those lifter's were over $700.00 at that time,,this 400 block WILL get the lifter bores bushed also, for all the reason's I did my small block plus the factory bores are way oversize by .003 to .005 and out of round, it probably looked like a sprinkler in the valley, so what I am doing is researching to find a selection I can work from, for a lifter that I can rely on and don't have to loose any sleep over, $350.00 lifters won't cut it with me and $1000.00 lifters are just not in the budget either,,Great thread guy's lot's of good info as always.

I would never use a lifter with a .750 wheel on any Chrysler cam core. Ever. Even though guys get away with it. As Cab said, the wheel speed is too great, and (I learned this through experience and Wayne Jesel) the wheel/axle/bearing beconme a tuning fork and literally explode.

As stated above.........a GOOD .904 lifter should have an .850 wheel. And here is something else to think about, especially if you need an offset cup lifter and are going to bush the block. Go ahead and move up to the .937 lifter. It will have the .850 wheel, costs no more than a .904 and gives a little bit more clearance with offset cups

Has anyone tried the Comp Sportsman series? They have a lower oil groove but a stronger body than the endurex lifter with the option of bushing or rollers? Kind of mid way in price as well.

The Cam FX stuff looks nice but I don't see a website or anything, even a Google search just turned up an eBay ad for what looks like $1100 bucks a set.

Cam FX. 909-354-0659

I brought this thread back from the dead as I am doing research for a set of solid rollers for my 493. I plan on using a small street roller so my spring pressures won't be crazy high. I have been looking at BAM or Morels and it may come down to what is available. Any reason to stay away from Comp or Howards ?
This is new territory for me so any input is welcome.
The car is mainly street driven and raced a few times a year.
Stock 440 block, Indy EZ heads std.port, 10.9 compression.
Like to keep the budget $500-$700 range
Gus

I put 7,600+ miles on my set of Comp 96829B (bushed). I currently have just short of 3,000 miles on Comp 96829 regular (needle bearings). So far, so good 440, TrickFlow heads, a dozen 1/4 mile passes, almost a dozen Auto-X events over that time period. I would love to hear what kinda mileage other people are doing and what kinda maintenance they are doing?

Any of the premium roller lifter options will cost more than $700.

My old pump gas Duster had Crower Ultra solid roller lifters in it
Worked Good, lasted a LONG time

Anyone with experience with SB Lunati solid rollers, there are two part numbers in the Lunati catalogue 72420-16 and a later improved version 72450-16, can't find much info on these down under from local parts dealers. There is a new set for sale from a local Mopar guy but I am waiting for him to get back to me with the part number. Anybody know what improvements were made with the later part number and has anybody used either and are happy with them. Thanks in advance.

I've been running the morels from Herbert cams for years now.

They seem to work just fine.

i agree with this

An engine builder friend uses BAM lifters wherever he can. They have some noice features for the price. They're rebuildable as well