How to install and adjust solid Lifters / Lash adjusters in a 4.7 V8 WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee/Dodge

In this clip I show you how I achieved a good gap on my solid lash adjusters or also called lifters.
This is a method I devised myself and can be done with only feeler gauges and some small spanners. A nice long handle screwdriver is handy also.
I did this for a few reasons. I heard the rockers pop off these Power Tech and Magnum engines. This is due to worn out hydraulic lifters and lower oil pressure. This causes the gap to become bigger and the rocker which is not bolted in place but kind of floats in place to fall off. I hope by using High performance springs with a better return rate and solid lash adjusters/lifters this will not happen. As yet none came off yet even redlining it.
Secondly for performance. Hydraulic lash adjusters/lifters at higher RPM compress some and this reduces the time the valve opens opening a bit later and it also closes the valve a bit sooner. It also stops the valve open by 100%. Solids dont do this giving better valve controll and that leads to better performance.
There are drawbacks to this Aren't there always :-( the gap is very small and any wear opens the gap and will cause a tick. So they require adjusting from time to time. I have done 15,000klm now and there is one with a slight tick nothing bad yet. So hopefully I will find some HO or Performance cams soon and will do the readjustment then.
I was offered some HO cams a while back but sadly I was overseas and missed the message.
If you enjoyed my clip or found it handy please subscribe and or click like. Regards Rik

[@appleofgodseye03]

thanks you . I am doing it myself you. I did get oem lifter set. my heads blew and my lifter look all black. so now i am putting all back together.so wish me luck

[@patricktennyson4293]

When you take out the adjuster after setting it with your feeler gauge you could measure the length of the adjuster accurately with a DIGITAL VERNIER. This way before you put it back in you can make fine adjustments and get it to the exact measured length which does away with the “hit and miss method” as you described it. Also if you hold the body of the adjuster in a bench vice while you tighten the nuts this gives you much more control over the whole process. Just my observation. Hope this is of help. Nice video.

[@BuiltByRik]

Hey mate. I have a later clip where I try use some vernier calipers to do it that way but I was not very successful. I think I uploaded the vernier attempt it was a while ago. I'm just a self taught back yard mechanic not scared to try things I've never done before 😂. I was in a rented house and did not have a vice. Imagine not having a simple vice doing what I do lol. We have our own house now and I've built my own workshop. If you have known my channel you may have seen this. I've had a rough health life even though it may not look like it. I'm actually doing OK since starting that carnivore diet 👍. I'm going to do a lot more stuff soon I have never done before on this channel. Maybe nobody has done what I'm planning to do? Hmmmm stays a secret for now. My family deserves a holiday first. I have put them through a lot with my health. Happy they love me and hung around 😂😂😂. Anyway fellow Gas Head much appreciate your feedback and thanks for watching. Now back to my coffee. 👋

[@BuiltByRik]

Wow 9 years ago. The WJ is still around plus a couple more. I'm surprised they can handle the way I drive them. 😎 Well I think in my next build I'll need to upgrade the axles. I'll see how long the alloy housings can handle more HP.

[@charliedee9276]

In U.S. so please bear with our wonky decimal system, I much prefer metric. I put these in my 04 4.7 when I replaced the heads and put cams from an 09 Aspen, they are a little more aggressive than the HO cams. Ran the lash initially at .002 (.05mm) and found them to be a bit noisier than I liked. I also found that after around 100 miles (161 km) they started getting even louder, a couple of them anyway. Upon relashing them I noticed the bottoms had different wear patterns where they bottom out in the bore on the head. I also noticed the ones that had localized marks vs a consistent pattern across the face of the bottom of the adjuster were the ones that had not kept their original gap and needed the lash to be tightened up. I believe the bottom finish of the bores is the culprit. If it is not totally flat meaning there are machining peaks in the bottom those small peaks get hammered down flatter by the action of rocker fulcrum loading it when the cam lobe opens the valve. That effectively increases the depth of the bore requiring the adjuster to be lengthened. I brought them all down to .0015 (.038mm) which quieted it down quite a bit. I have since had to relash the same ones I had to originally and when doing so noticed the wear marks had changed to where they all looked much more consistent than before. After that relash I have gone around 3000 miles (4800 km) without a noticeable increase in noise. If you did have a dial caliper you could see just how much variation there is like you mentioned to a poster. The shortest adjuster in my case is 1.935" (49.14mm) and the longest is 1.953" (49.6mm) at .0015 lash. Now that is has settled in it's pretty quiet, the sound it does make reminds me of my old solid lifter big block Chevy Nova I had back in the day, which is to say is a good thing.

[@BuiltByRik]

I have run them at 0.04 mm and had no noise or need to re adjust them. Also when I installed some custom performance camshafts (A video on my channel) there was no strange wear on any of my parts. With such a small gap I am surprised you had any wear marks. Second time round installing the new camshafts the job did not take long. Its like any job once you know how it gets easier. Thank you for admitting the imperial measuring system sucks LOL Thanks for watching.

[@appleofgodseye03]

Thank you for taking the time out of your day

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza Your welcome :-)

[@appleofgodseye03]

Thanks for your time and help .I will keep you posted.

[@44hawk28]

Maintenance note on the 4.7. About a week before you're going to do an oil change put a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil into the oil. It will, quite handily, keep the hydraulic lash adjusters clean. It is old school procedure, but it works quite well.

[@RikBor]

Hello Hawk thank you for watching my channel. This clip is about changing over to solid lifters replacing the factory hydraulic units. I did this for performance reasons and later on in my channel it is a must when installing a performance camshaft. I am a true believer that to keep carbon sludge low in your engine the best thing is regular services. I personally have had a bad run in the past when I was younger with engine additives. I call them mechanic's in a bottle. I do not know this product so cannot tell you if I agree or not. Calling it Mystery oil does not boost my confidence in it LOL. We do not have no where near as many engine additives available here in Australia as it seems you have in America. I always hear of people recommending these Genie in a bottle fixes. The lifters I replaced worked fine but could not be used with the camshaft profile I installed later. Regular oil changes will also keep the lash adjusters clean. Regular changes in fact are good practice and good for a happy engine. I remember a product called ProMa from memory and they showed a bearing test and I was blown away by how it performed on a test bench and even sold the stuff. I had 2 engines fail not long after using the product and even though they claimed it would not block the oil filter I can tell you they were wrong. I use Penrite full synthetic oil in my engines and have never had any sludge build up in my engines. I try and change oil around the 7000 klm mark but sometimes reach 10k klm when I just cannot get around to doing it. Any way take care and happy Jeeping.

[@alpinehs]

Now I can fix mybtruck engine. Thanks for this vide.

[@BuiltByRik]

Are you running solid lifters? Factory lifters are hydraulic.

[@rairaibvlog]

Thanks for sharinggg 💘

[@BuiltByRik]

Gagga Bump+ Good morning from WA :-) I brought them from Nick at Airram performance. There is not much 4.7 performance stuff he does not stock. Here is his link. www.airram.com Never regretted getting these. They need adjusting now but at 20,000klm not so bad. Let me know 9f you have any more questions. Regards Rik

[@alanbessler4398]

Subscribed from the Facebook group

[@BuiltByRik]

Thanks buddy much appreceated

[@appleofgodseye03]

Hi well I rotate the Engine and no resistance smooth so thanks for your time

[@appleofgodseye03]

it on my 04 dodge ram 1500 4.7. yes it is my first time doing it. this what's going on. the heads or resurfaced new oem lifter new oil pump new water pump new chain and tensioner .so far i put the heads back in set the cam at 12:00 and put in the lifter that can go in. and now i am waiting 4 the chain and the tensioner

[@joyschtik]

Where could you get these solids adjusters? My hydraulic ones are dead I think, losing power at higher revs. Thanks mate. NSW

[@RikBor]

I got them from Airram in the US. Sorry did not see your comment till just now Gugga?

[@DeepShahPhotoshop]

Nice stuff!👍👍

[@BuiltByRik]

Thank you. I hope it was if use to you. Please subscribe and get your friends and family to subscribe too it's Very important I get as many subscribers as possible this month. 👍

[@DeepShahPhotoshop]

Home Mechanics Man Cave sure mahn , can you do the same please?

[@BuiltByRik]

Already done thanks for the support

[@appleofgodseye03]

ok thank thank you

[@tomashton7208]

heck you can take 2000 solid lifters and stickem in the 2.3 lima motor, but the valve lash changes when you bolt the head onto the block

[@BuiltByRik]

+tom ashton I have no idea what you are asking or talking about. Are you saying these solid lifters are the same as a 2 litre Ford engine? I think the 2.3 is a belt driven overhead cam so the clearance should not change when you torque the head down. If it is a pushrod engine then that would be the case and not possible unless I have heard of adjustable pushrods.

[@tomashton7208]

+Home Mechanics the 2.3 lima engine can be converted to solid lifters using the 2 liter engine solid lifters. Crane cams sell the kit, you have to remove the head and have the lifter bosse,s machine down for the rocker clearence, the 2000 cc motor is overhead cam like the lima engine, the 1600 cc engine is pushrod.

[@evilcowboy]

I think it was a joke. He was saying no matter how many solid lifters you put in that engine when you bolt the head down the valve lash adjustment changes regardless of how careful you are to not disturb the initial adjustment. Kind of like the old joke "If it doesn't have an oil leak then its not a Chevy 350" (same is said about Harleys too) But I think he was referring to the Ford engines which were in my opinion not so great. Putting solid rockers in an engine like that is exactly like polishing a turd. Might as well be sticking them in an old "Iron Duke" engine. At least you decided to stick solid lifters in an engine that was decent. Personally I am watching this because I just got a solid running 3.7L Liberty from 2003. From my understanding they have the same issue of throwing the rocker once the sludge causes the lifter to stick. Your solution seems to make the most sense to me as you are completely eliminating the problem not just putting a band-aid on it until it sludges up again. I may do this to it for preventative measures but I have a feeling these engines were all probably designed to use a synthetic oil to reduce sludge and a lot of folks no matter what they say will end up using conventional. Honestly someone should just probably make it a day and pull the heads and do them on a bench like you are. This ensures you can use better head gaskets as these engines I believe are kind of known in the earlier ones for blowing a head gasket.

[@BuiltByRik]

@@evilcowboy Bolting down the head should make zero difference if it is a overhead camshaft. This only happens to pushrod engines where adjusting solid lifters before bolting the head down is quite impossible as the lifters are in the block and not the heads.

[@appleofgodseye03]

Hi I'm putting in valve lifter set in my 4.7 i am doing it myself. you have some good tips

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza Hello Danny I am glad my clip was of some use to you. I try answer all questions here on my channel so if you need some advice feel free to ask. Regards Rik

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza Are you using factory hydraulics or solids like in my clip? I have never driven my Jeep with hydraulic lifters so I and other readers would be interested to find out if you can notice a difference. I have been asked before and could not answer the question.

[@anon7039]

I would've just bought a dial caliper - take one measurement from one adjusted lash adjuster and then set the rest of them the same.

[@BuiltByRik]

There are too many inconsistencies to do one measurement and expect every valve to be 100 % the same. PLEASE check my clip where I use them installing performance camshafts. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE

[@ryanchenier-poulin8570]

@@BuiltByRik got me a tick and i have the valve cover open. What is the max and min clearance with a feeler gauge?

[@BuiltByRik]

Hi hope I'm in time if not sorry. You can always join the Aussie Jeep Muscle community on Facebook. The clearances are 0.0015 to 0.0035 but I recomend to get as close to 0.0015 as possible to reduce any noise or having to re adjust them. I have not had to adjust mine yet no ticking at all. 30k Klm and still quiet. I know it's not the easiest job but once done well worth it. Make sure you have a gap if you don't it means your valve will stay slightly open. Regards Rik

[@jaliscojeep6734]

What units for dial caliper?

[@BuiltByRik]

I did not use a dial caliper as I don't own one.

[@mikeg3529]

This seems really easy to do with the engine out of the vehicle, but how much of a PITA is it when this is done with the motor in the jeep? Once a year isn't alot, but even for once a year seems like a big project to do especially when you are hunched over the jeep all day long. Any way to fix the problem with the factory adjustors??

[@BuiltByRik]

There s a few ideas flooting around on KZbin the best seems shimming the base of the lifter with a washer. Since this is my first 4.7 V8 and I did not have it before I rebuild the engine I have never had the problem myself. Im guessing once every 20 thousand klm would be fine if you adjusted them on minimum gap. I will find out how hard it is with the engine in the car soon enough. Mind you it would have been hard to show clearly how to do it in the car. Next time I plan to use some micrometer caliper which I think will make it easier. I will do an updated movie then. Please subscribe :-) thanks for watching and feedback. Rik

[@BuiltByRik]

Still have not had to re adjust them after 40k klm

[@bustinnucks1299]

Hey man are you supposed to check from cam to rocker or rocker to valve stem?

[@uNabL3]

Just curious. Is this procedure described somewhere like the official workshop repair manual or something like that? Or you came up with it yourself? Thanks :)

[@BuiltByRik]

No it's a common performance upgrade for modified camshafts.

[@RikBor]

And the method I made up myself.

[@charliedee9276]

@@RikBor Actually that method has been used for years on old ironhead Harley Sportsters. The pushrods have a ball on each end and a lifter tappet with an adjustment exactly like these lash adjusters making it impossible to check lash with a feeler gauge. It's done by spinning the pushrod with your fingers and tightening up the adjuster until the pushrod spins free without any up and down movement, at which time the lock nut is tightened against the adjuster.

[@RikBor]

@@charliedee9276 You CAN check with feeler gauges? You cannot spin the adjustment with your fingers there is no room. So quite different from a old Harley. I did make the method up by myself it may have been done before but I have not seen or learned it done by anybody before I did this. Regards RIk PS Sorry used wrong ID from my other channel.

[@charliedee9276]

@@RikBor Misunderstanding. You CANNOT use a feeler gauge on the Harley. I meant the adjustment process is the same in regards to the adjuster itself and how it made longer or shorter. My point was the Harley lash adjustment is very similar with the difference being instead of tightening the adjuster against the feeler gauge you tighten the adjuster exactly like you are doing against the push rod. The lash is correct when you can freely spin the push rod yet feel zero up and down play. My main question is how do you do this while the engine is in the vehicle? RHD vs LHD notwithstanding there is no way I could adjust the lash adjuster with this method, there simply is no room.

[@appleofgodseye03]

What's up🏠machine. my heads blew in my 04 🐏 1500.I put the heads in how i am putting in the lifter set but my chain have not come in is this a problem.

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza Is this about a 4.7 V8 Jeep or your Ford explorer? The timing Chain on a Jeep 4.7 is very involved and should only be done if you have done timing chains before. If you make a mistake you can bend valves or even put a hole in your piston when it cranks over.. If you were my neighbor I could help. Please advice what vehicle it it on?

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza But to answer your question I think your asking yes you should install the lifters and camshafts before you install the timing chain. There should be instructions how to install it with the new chain. Make sure you get the chain pensioners right they can be a bit tricky. You don't want to start with a too tight chain. I recall having to reset mine once because I got it wrong and it was too tight.

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza This may help some. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6vNo5tnjL50na8

[@stoneyswolf]

Why would you want solid lash adjusters? Seems like your creating a lot more work and future maintenance.

[@BuiltByRik]

Hello killer :-) Well a common question why. Mostly answered in previous questions below but a quick answer. You need them or custom shims if you install modified camshafts. They prevent rockers popping of as the engine gets older or when your in a high rpm situation. Also as this is a OHC engine with a roller cam set up the maintenance is not high. I have never had to do any adjustments after initial installation. Apart from when you do a camshaft swap. In my personal opinion the bit of work installing them outweighs the benefits especially the way I like to drive my Carabao monster.

[@BuiltByRik]

Also please read the notes under the clip.

[@deathtoll999]

Hey I appreciate the video. I’m actually having the problem your preventing right now on my 03 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited at 193,000 miles. I’m dead broke and currently am looking for work but this Jeep is unreliable for the long run. I can’t afford OEM but I’ve heard you can clean the lifters and all that. I’m not one hundred percent sure what the noise actually is but I got three different opinions. Roller rocker fell off most likely because of a seized lifter, timing chain slap which I doubt or a connecting rod barring. Hope to figure out the source of the engine tick. Does any of this exsplain a reason why there is misfire?

[@appleofgodseye03]

if it's 👌 can i send you same pix when i get it all to together

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza Sure I'll have a look at them. When your done installing the chain turn the engine over slowly by hand without spark plugs and if you feel any resistance you have it wrong and a valve is hitting a piston. Do not continue turning or you will do damage.

[@BuiltByRik]

+Danny Andrea Loza the chains have different color links and they have to be in the correct position. A bit tricky but take your time to get it right. Best of luck. :-)

[@13456cds]

you make it look very difficult, you dont need to take them out to adjust. It must have taken DAYS

[@BuiltByRik]

That is a comment made by someone who has NEVER done these on this particular engine before with stock camshafts. As these solid lifters were never made for this particular engine there just is NO room to adjust these in the conventional way. And yes I know how they are normaly adjusted with the feeler guage in place while adjusting the lifter. I have been building engines since before hydraulic lifters were the norm and ignition was done by adjusting points and twin points were the ultimate ignition system. Why else would this be my second most popular clip? Because you cannot adjust these the conventional way. But if you can do it easier on the 4.7 powertech V8 please film it and show us. Im not to old to learn new tricks. I am soon to load a new clip installing performance camshafts in this engine which was easier with better tools. And no it took less than 2 hours. Regards Rik

[@13456cds]

I appreciate you're that you stand by what you did And Apologize😶 You gave me hope to replace my 3.7 lifters should be same as 4.7 HO , correct?

[@BuiltByRik]

Yes exactly the same as far as Im aware having owned a 3.7 before but never pulled it apart I beleive they are exactly the same engine but 2 less pistons. This week I installed performance camshafts in my 4.7 and used a set of very accurate electronic vernier calipers which made installing them much easier. I did not have the money to buy any last time. I am still editing those clips and should be online hopefully in a few weeks. Sadly my online data is limited atm between house moves.

[@BuiltByRik]

HO or non HO the job is the same.

[@JavierMartinez-oq9on]

Gage .05mm?

[@BuiltByRik]

Yes that's correct a very small gap.

[@BuiltByRik]

Manual says .0015 to .0020 inch. That is approximately .04 to .05mm. Had to go back to my books to double check for you.

[@makdaiss]

Aussie where you find that info about gap ? I read manual many times and i cant find it

[@RikBor]

Dimensions came with the product. If you want to see the instruction sheet join me on facebook and ask me. I'll post a picture for you.

[@BuiltByRik]

@@makdaiss What manual did you read mate?