Summit Racing™ Hydraulic Roller Lifter Guides

KEY POINT SUMMARY

• Hydraulic roller lifter guides keep your hydraulic roller lifters from twisting in their bores, preventing damage to the valvetrain and engine.

• If you’re changing or servicing your camshaft, it’s a good idea to replace the guides as well. Plastic guides can warp and crack over time due to heat cycling.

Your hydraulic roller lifters need to stay perfectly aligned as they travel over the camshaft lobe and Summit Racing Hydraulic Roller Lifter Guides keep them that way! They’re an inexpensive way to prevent catastrophic failure, so be sure to replace them if you change the cam.

Roller Lifter Guide Styles

OE-style lifters have individual "dog bone" style bars held in place by retention trays or "spiders" that maintain alignment and secure to the engine block. This type of lifter alignment control is typically used in original equipment (OE) applications and is suitable for mild performance setups with lower/mid lift cams.

Built-in vertical link bars connect a pair of lifters to keep them aligned. They are optimized for high-performance engines and are especially beneficial for camshafts with higher lift profiles. They're also used in older engines (generally pre-1986) and retrofit roller cam applications, where the engine block is not machined for OE-style link bars. Linked lifters are commonly found in high-rpm applications and with increased spring loads, such as Pro Street or racing camshafts.

Link Bars

It's important to note that all solid roller lifters are equipped with built-in link bars. Additionally, the OE plastic lifter trays used in LS engines are known to flex and potentially break under the increased stress of higher lift and spring pressures, particularly with aggressive camshaft profiles.

• For LS engines, our lifter guides (also called trays or buckets) are made from a more durable plastic composite.

• For 1987-98 small block Chevy engines originally equipped with a roller cam, our dog-bone style steel link bars fit over a pair of lifters, and are secured by a hold-down, or “spider”.

• Roller lifters with built-in vertical link bars provide enhanced performance and stability in demanding situations, while OE link bars are suitable for stock to mild applications.

FAQ Section:

Q. Do you need lifter trays with link bar lifters?

A. Using both trays and link bars is not just overkill, but they can interfere with each other. Once you’ve stepped up to link bars, you can get rid of the trays.

Q. How do I stop my hydraulic lifters from ticking?

A. Ticking is usually a sign of lifter wear; not a problem with the lifter guides. Instead of staying pumped up with oil, the lifter becomes slack and makes some noise as it operates. Worst case scenario: the lifter collapses or comes apart putting debris into the engine. If you do replace your lifters, it’s always recommended to inspect or replace the guides as well.

Q. At what point should I consider using roller lifters with a built-in link bar vs OE style?

A. Consider using lifters with built-in link bars in engines that operate at higher rpm, have faster camshaft ramps, or increased spring pressures. They are also required in retrofit roller camshaft conversions for engine blocks that were not originally equipped with roller designs. Many LS engine builders opt for link bar lifters to replace the factory plastic lifter trays, which are less durable and can fail when used in conjunction with aggressive-lobe cams.