stock truck lifters FTW, i'll be doing ls9 gasket and studs, would really like to upgrade my lifters while im in there, but keep hearing these stories about the "ls7" lifters

 

still not seeing anyone address the WHY factor in the equation though. I've heard read a lot of different information about pushrod length when doing this swap for us on the DoD delete and changing to the LS7 lifters. If guys are just swaping over to these lifters and throwing their old 7.400 PR back in and going to town and it's not the right length, well, there you go that's a problem and the lifter gets blamed. I'm not saying that's the case every time, or ever. I'm saying there needs to be more information and reasoning before I personally go around blindly saying "LS7 lifters aint worth a ****... blah blah blah...) They hold up pretty damn well in the engines they came in from the factory.

 

I had less than 100 miles on my ls7 lifters one of them started making noise. I had a comp 228r cam so nothing crazy pushrods where the right length everything was good. I don't know why it made noise but I replaced that lifter with another and it went away. I will not be going back with ls7's on my new motor they are just too hit or miss it seems they work great for some and trash out on others. I think btr's at minimum and something like a morel preferred a lot of people have too much money in there motors to risk using a cheap factory made in Mexico lifter imo.

 

This was recent thread with a picture of the failure

https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...arnage-522777/

 

Well this thread opened my eyes... Maybe the Brian tooley lifters are the way? What about the cady ones?

Any links to both caddy and BT style?

 

Tooley Lifters Link

Speed Inc - BTR SLR Hydraulic Roller Lifter Set

Caddy Lifters Link

Speed Inc - GM CTS-VR Cadillac Racing Team Hydraulic Roller Lifter Set

 

Look at the cam that guy was running and the spring pressures of the Lunati springs. Most of us, I'd say 95% or more, aren't running anything close to either to either (cam size or spring pressures) Those two things play hell on the lifter. The LS7 lifter was not designed or built for a huge cam or a super high pressure spring. I understand that there are guys having problems with them on smaller setups, but in my opinion that's a pretty bad example.

I'm second guessing my purchase now, might be selling mine and getting some of the Tooleys to go with the Tooley springs I have coming. Can't go wrong with a matched set right?!

 

Tooley - 200

Caddy - 300

Ls7 - 140

I guess it's time to talk to my tuner / lsx go to. I'll ask him which ones to get for the triple 12 and isky springs that stock 48 recommended.

 

Get one of these, might save you some money in the end either way...

COMP Cams 7702-1 Comp Cams Pushrod Length Checker - Free Shipping on All Orders @ JEGS

 

That may not be the best example but I was hardly pushing the limits with btr 660 springs 288 dur and 588 lift cam. Maybe its a quality control issue or install issue for some but the success rate seems spotty with the ls7 lifters.