Reusing 195k lifters?

-
Mojoe9955

Mojoe9955

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 14, 2021
Messages
714
Reaction score
467
Location
NJ
I'm doing a 5.2 motor. It is a 2000 and has 195k on it and ran quite good in my Ram van that unfortunately had frame rusted beyond repair. The block shows no wear...no ridge and still has visible cross hatching. The heads and exhaust manifolds were rusted to $hit on the outside, with busted exhaust studs and sparkplug tubes, but didn't look too bad on the inside. I scrapped them and found some bare EQ heads, the NZ castings for LA intakes.
I'm replacing the the bearings, rings, and having Oregon regrind my cam. I have a Hughes spring kit on order and harvested the old valves with plans for a 3 angle valve job and a little port work. Aside from that I'm using the stock valve train, including the lifters which look good for having 195k on them. Of course they'll get a good cleaning.
I want keep the budget on the low side and $200 for new lifters can go to other parts I need if I can reuse them.
Thanks
 
I would buy new to use on a new or reground cam. Those rollers have turned a lot of times in almost 200,000 miles.
 
I fully understand saving money, and better to ask before doing this.

Are you seriously thinking on reusing these on a new cam? W T Heck

Since it's so clean inside then reusing on the same cam in the same hole could work, anytime you change the cam under them it is going to be dicey if they live.

What's the worst that could happen and do you want to pay the time and money to fix it?

Why not ask Oregon cam grinders, I'm sure the Heard family needs a good laugh today. Better yet don't bother them with this idea.
 
Last edited:
413 said:
I fully understand saving money, and better to ask before doing this.

Are you seriously thinking on reusing these on a new cam? W T Heck

Why not ask Oregon cam grinders, I'm sure the Heard family needs a good laugh today. Better yet don't bother them with this idea.
Click to expand...
Roller cams don't really care much about old lifters but yeah being that deep into things after 200k miles you're nuts to not go ahead and put in new lifters
 
Yeah because we have never seen a bad roller cam/lifter photo yet! LOL. Yes rollers are better but at 200K they are past lifespan.
 
Thanks, I kinda knew the answer, but was just double checking. Now I don't have to screw around cleaning them. If the heads are "decked" and using a thinner head gasket to raise compression some, are longer push rod in play too?
Thanks
 
Mojoe9955 said:
Thanks, I kinda knew the answer, but was just double checking. Now I don't have to screw around cleaning them. If the heads are "decked" and using a thinner head gasket to raise compression some, are longer push rod in play too?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Can you even clean them? I mean "diss-assemble" hydraulic roller rockers.
 
Mojoe9955 said:
I'm doing a 5.2 motor. It is a 2000 and has 195k on it and ran quite good in my Ram van that unfortunately had frame rusted beyond repair. The block shows no wear...no ridge and still has visible cross hatching. The heads and exhaust manifolds were rusted to $hit on the outside, with busted exhaust studs and sparkplug tubes, but didn't look too bad on the inside. I scrapped them and found some bare EQ heads, the NZ castings for LA intakes.
I'm replacing the the bearings, rings, and having Oregon regrind my cam. I have a Hughes spring kit on order and harvested the old valves with plans for a 3 angle valve job and a little port work. Aside from that I'm using the stock valve train, including the lifters which look good for having 195k on them. Of course they'll get a good cleaning.
I want keep the budget on the low side and $200 for new lifters can go to other parts I need if I can reuse them.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Mojoe9955 said:
Thanks, I kinda knew the answer, but was just double checking. Now I don't have to screw around cleaning them. If the heads are "decked" and using a thinner head gasket to raise compression some, are longer push rod in play too?
Thanks
Click to expand...
If the rollers are clean and smooth and you know the engine ran well with no lifter noise I would not hesitate to reuse the factory lifters on a build like that.

I would not reuse the factory valves in those heads. If they are the good NZ castings find some good valves. If the original valves are not heavily eroded maybe they can be cleaned up but the factory valves and seats on the Magnums are usually pretty beat up. No matter what valves you run, you MUST have the guides in those heads checked and honed to size because they were made tight so builders can finish them to proper size.

Pushrods will need to be checked for length anyway because you are going to run a regrind cam and you are using different heads. Maybe they will work, but check to be sure. Be careful on head gasket selection and pay attention to their specs. Many of the LA head gaskets have a large bore diameter so using a thinner one does help much. May be cheaper to use a proper Magnum replacement head gasket and won't give up much compression since the gasket bore is smaller.
 
The seats on stock intake valves look very good after I cleaned them up, the exhaust valves are a little pitted, but I thought they could be cleaned up better with the valve job. The heads don't look used. I got them from a guy, who got them with a project car, but went with some aluminum heads. As usual, the build "snowballs"
 
Rock Auto

IMG_1515.png
 
I can’t believe no one has said it yet but here it goes. FUCKIN MEASURE THEM! And the bores to determine if they are worn or usable. If they are, disassemble and clean them then stick em in. FYI the lifters in my daily driver have 620,000+ miles on em and have seen 3 different camshafts.
 
@Bobzilla is exactly correct. The factory magnum valves are junk, spend the money you saved on lifters and buy (at least) new intake valves for your awesome New Zealand EQ heads.
 
TT5.9mag said:
@Bobzilla is exactly correct. The factory magnum valves are junk, spend the money you saved on lifters and buy (at least) new intake valves for your awesome New Zealand EQ heads.
Click to expand...
Are u mocking me? Thats OK as they are actually Australian EQ. Am I using the old lifters now and getting new intake valves or just getting new exhaust valves since they are pitted?
What is it that makes Magnum valves junk anyway?
 
i guess i can see the argument for cleaning and reusing the lifters. but i'd 1000% be johnny snake eye on them to make darn sure they're within spec. but $200 isn't too awful a pill to swallow.

but the valves, i'd be buying new. mags didn't have what would be traditionally called hardened seats so the exhausts are usually beat to dog ****.
 
Mojoe9955 said:
Are u mocking me? Thats OK as they are actually Australian EQ. Am I using the old lifters now and getting new intake valves or just getting new exhaust valves since they are pitted?
What is it that makes Magnum valves junk anyway?
Click to expand...
LOL no not at all. The Australian/New Zealand heads are actually awesome and deserve good valves. Just the flow difference between a stock intake valve and good valve, like a ferrea or similar, would make replacing them worth it. Even if the old ones were perfect.
 
It's all good, I wasn't offended :thumbsup:. I'm usually inclined to things right/ extra, but it gets out of hand sometimes.
 
Mojoe9955 said:
I'm doing a 5.2 motor. It is a 2000 and has 195k on it and ran quite good in my Ram van that unfortunately had frame rusted beyond repair. The block shows no wear...no ridge and still has visible cross hatching. The heads and exhaust manifolds were rusted to $hit on the outside, with busted exhaust studs and sparkplug tubes, but didn't look too bad on the inside. I scrapped them and found some bare EQ heads, the NZ castings for LA intakes.
I'm replacing the the bearings, rings, and having Oregon regrind my cam. I have a Hughes spring kit on order and harvested the old valves with plans for a 3 angle valve job and a little port work. Aside from that I'm using the stock valve train, including the lifters which look good for having 195k on them. Of course they'll get a good cleaning.
I want keep the budget on the low side and $200 for new lifters can go to other parts I need if I can reuse them.
Thanks
Click to expand...
I used the factory magnum lifters with 196k miles on them with my oregon regrind cam and the hughes spring kit. No lifter ticks and it's been together now for about 3 years. Some of the remans that I see have a narrower roller, so less surface on the cam.
 
jimjimjimmy said:
i would reuse those factory lifters way before i would use those 6 dollar ones LOL .
Click to expand...

These days I trust high-mileage OE parts from the 1990s a lot more than brand-new stuff. I don't know how many miles were on the 5.9 Magnum short block when I pulled it from a 2000 Ram 2500 in a junkyard but it had to be at least 150k judging by the condition of the rest of the vehicle. That was back in 2017; I reused the original lifters with a custom-grind Racer Brown cam that's 222/224* @ .050" and .545" lift (iirc), it's been run hard in my Duster ever since with at least 10k miles and zero indication of any valvetrain issues. If you do decide to get new lifters DO NOT get rid of the old ones.
 
One of my old work Vans was a 1 ton Dodge had the 5.9 and over 350,000 miles ran well. Always serviced like it should be. Ran fine when it left here but bad trans and Van was falling apart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top