Seems like basically Johnson lifters was started by a bunch of thieves who stole equipment and diverted funds from Hylift. they will definitely not be getting a single pennie from me.

Maybe not. The company that was founded on the equipment theft was called North American Innovations. The main person responsible for the theft was a part owner (minority, not equal) who was convicted of the crime. Most, although not all of the equipment was recovered and he was ordered to pay restitution and sentenced to jail. Although they planned on having an operational company with the stolen equipment the theft was discovered prior to that ever happening. Johnson is owned by a holding company that has another manufacturer of automotive parts under its umbrella as well. The other company is a tier 1 supplier to Chrysler. Doesn't seem like Johnson got its start from that theft.

The muskegon lifter plant was owned by Nelms. Nelms owned several companies, still registered agent for SEC (specialty engine components), Johnson LLC, WA Thomas, .....

Around 2002, they bankrupted the muskegon operation. Many people were laid off. Topline automotive, bought it amd took it over. It was back in operation for several years. Thats when the guy "Hicks" was stealing from the company, and sabatoging things. He went to prison.

Johnson LLC was formed and filed in 2008, by Nelms. Topline continued to struggle to keep the muskegon plant running, and it still is.

If you look at the lifters from both johnson, and topline, they visually look the same.

Seems theres a lot of drama and bad blood between the companies. Both claim to be the "original" johnson lifter.

Right. An interesting read about how products change behind the scenes is the story of the Johnson / Delphi lifters that were used by Harley when Johnson went bankrupt originally. It's a shame Hicks was involved with the theft because he was also an engineer and actually designed product.

Since I know you like the tech stuff MT here's the write up of the Harley lifter issue. What isnt mentioned here is that Harley started using Delphi because of Johnsons bankruptcy. Hicks tried to sell Delphi the patent on the lifters so Delphi could produce an acceptable lifter but Delphi refused and instead tried to buy all of Johnson out of bankruptcy. Delphi lost the bid to Topline.

Johnson-Hylift designed and produced a special piston and valve body
to work across the temp ranges and varying oil psi typically encountered
on an air-cooled engine such as the Harley. Since late 2001, HD has used
Delphi brand hydraulic lifters. That's why there was a Harley p/n change
from 18538-99 to 18538-99A and now 18538-99B. However, Delphi did not
use a 0.655" hi-volume / hi-pressure plungerpiston and valve body
specifically designed for Harley as found in the Johnson-Hylift lifters.
Instead, Delphi essentially used a small blockChevy lifter. The main
difference is the Delphi lifter tries to boost the hydraulic psi by decreasing
the piston diameter, but this leads to a smaller high pressure oil reservoir.
The volume is too small and allows the lifter to clatter. That may be why
so many of the late model Twin-Cam bikes are noisy. After doing some
research AMS learned these Delphi version 18538-99B lifters are made too
small to stand up to Harley's heavy valvespring pressure. The oil reservoir
inside the lifter is too small. It doesn't hold enough oil to let the lifter bleed
off under normal use and still have a cushionof compressed oil to take up
valve train slack. Note: ALL lifters bleed off during operation and even
more-so when the bikes sits, engine off.

AMS went back to Johnson-Hylift's Chuck Hicks, the original
manufacturer / engineer of the earlier HD 18538-99 lifters, which
don't seem to be as noisy as those made by Delphi. Working with Chuck,
AMS modified a Johnson-Hylift lifter, to accept a very precise check valve
from an A900 Ford Mustang lifter. Then we used a large plunger that
allows more oil reservoir volume, and a ball seat that fits much tighter,
yet has an oil feed groove to allow more upper rocker box oiling. What
this does is give us a lifter with a much bigger internal oil reservoir that
will keep the lifter / pushrod from bleeding too much and bottoming out.
The bigger reservoir maintains a cushion of oilinside. The ball seat
ensures better top-end rocker oiling and better pushrod tip fit.... all of
which makes for a quieter lifter.

Thats a link to some hylift johnson bbc hyd lifters

Good read bck

Hylift Johnson is a division of topline automotive located Muskagon and Topline is a division of Automotive Engineering Inc of Chicago.

They have been around for over 40 years and advertise very heavily in the auto trade side of things along with the auto mechanics trade side of things and a few performance auto trade as well.

I never see or hear from auto techs even mention Johnson Lifters. Of course I have heard of both companies. Years ago Topline had a really big story posted in a link about their history and if I recall it even went back more than 40 years ago. If I ever find the link I will post it.

Topline Automotive

this is them as well

Topline

Greenpath Industries ? Topline Automotive