With all the lifter problems in the last decade, Hylift Johnson lifters (not Johnson Lifters with imported castings) had remained a quality manufacturer cast and machined in the USA. Those days of quality might be over or at least numbered from my experience this past month.
In June 2023 I purchased a set of 16 Hylift Johnson performance variable duration lifters from
Hughes Engines part number 5003. The lifters came in a small unmarked brown cardboard box with a grid of cardboard separating the lifters. Hughes placed that box in a larger box with packaging, so the lifters were well protected during shipping. Upon inspection, I found 13 of the 16 lifters have deep nicks/gouges in the face that my fingernail easily catches on, and some of these nicks/gouges have noticeable raised edges, particularly those with damage on the edge of the face. I've never received new lifters that were beat up like these from any manufacturer, even OEM Melling/Federal.
I emailed Hughes with photos reporting the damage but didn't hear back after a few days, so I called and left a message and haven't heard back for a few days. Considering the Independence Day holiday, I imagine people have been out of the office. I have no issue with Hughes so far and expect them to help me once they get to my message/email. I was suspicious that the lifters I received may be knock-offs unknown to Hughes, so I emailed the address on Hylift Johnson's website with photos asking if Hughes still sells their lifters and for feedback on the damage. I received a response from a manager at Kiwi Cylinder Heads in New Zealand who was surprised to know they are still the contact email and phone number on Hylift's website since they haven't been their distributor in many years. He told me he’s never seen Hylift Johnson lifters that were nicked like in the photos, and he pointed me to Topline Auto who he said manufacturers Hylift Johnson lifters. I found their website, called, and spoke with a sales tech who confirmed Hughes is a retailer. He asked me to email him photos, which I did. The response I received from him that I quote verbatim was, "Please see the response from my engineer below regarding the nicks. He would be more worried about raised material or burrs that would raise the cam face surface than the nicks that can happen in handling, packaging, and shipping." The engineer's response included in the email was, "Yes, the A-2011 OEM allows indentations as long as there is no raised material. That is why we finish the cam face last to grind any raised material. They are still to OEM specifications."
I didn't expect that response since the lifters aren't OEM-spec lifters, they certainly don't look like the faces were completely finished to remove the nicks, and they are marketed by Hylift as performance lifters “held to a higher quality surface finish.” The response doesn't instill any confidence in me that the tolerances and inside quality are any better than the face quality. Once I get in touch with Hughes, I plan on returning the lifters. The difficulty will be finding another lifter, but I've read that Hylift Johnson supplies the lifter body to Rhoads where Rhoads does the finish work. I called Rhoads last week who, as I expected, wouldn’t say who supplies the body but said that they are USA made and that the face finish they perform will have “absolutely no nicks.” Unless anyone has other recommendations for a lifter with a c-clip or pressed retainer, I'm looking at buying a set of Rhoads V-Pro 2018P. I found a lifter from Crower 66031J that they call a “Hydraulic Johnson” lifter, so I plan on calling Crower to confirm if it is supplied by Hylift Johnson or the imported Johnson Lifters. To clarify, the circled damage in the photos is only for nicks my fingernail caught and are not superficial scratches.
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