Proactive lifter replacement?

[smithman]

I''m interested to hear the opinions out there.
Currently I have the heads off my 7.3 for a valve + guide job. 154K on engine.
I have inspected all lifters as-installed...no stuck lifters and they all drop down under their own weight as the manual says.

Is it more advisable to just leave them as-is, disassemble + clean them, or pop for all new ones ($$)?

 

[icanfixall]

Because of your truck year of build I suspect the lifters have the needle bearing roller lifters and not the bushing bearing roller lifters. Keep the needle bearing lifters. Really no need to replace them even if you replaced the cam they can stay in the engine. Now if they were non roller lifters and you replaced the cam you MUST also replace the lifters or ruin the new cam. Roller lifters usually will not harm cams unless they stick because of bearing failure. Thats a very uncommon expericance with our idi engines.

 

[BDCarrillo]

Keep em. Just get them back in the right bore, in the right orientation. They tend to wear together.

 

[Hydro-idi]

I had an annoying lifter tick on my engine that wouldn't go away. And when I recently pulled the heads off of my engine, I replaced all lifters. IMO, its one of those things that is just good to replace while you are in there. They are not horribly expensive and depending on the mileage on your rig, may be a good idea to replace them. I think I paid roughly $150 for a full set on ebay. Pushrods and rockers should be ok to re-use.