Dirty Airfilter

[dhenegar]

It has been so dry here in Va. and trying to mulch leaves ends up like a dust storm. I was wondering if anyone has any air filter cleaning tips. I have soaked the precleaner in oil, but this seems to be harder to clean with all the dust gumming up in it. Im running a lazer with a 22hp Kohler. thanks

[little green guy]

blow the filter out with an air compresor. To clean the prefilter soak it in gas than put a little oil on it

[Eric ELM]

When I had a mower with pre-cleaners, I cleaned it with oil gas mixed, after blowing off the excess. The gas cleans it and the oil in it lubes it. Straight oil is too much oil and this trapped the dirt good. It still use this method for my 2 cylcle and small 4 cycle engines. I now have 2 Choppers that both have the Donaldson Turbo air cleaners which I feel it the ultimate in air cleaning. The turbo spins and keep big chunks from getting in there and the dust is trapped in a cup. What gets by there is trapped by an expensive dry filter. This is what's on the old Chopper with 3,192 hours on it and the original 22 HP Kohler motor. It seems to work great. :)

[Rufur]

I went to a seminar last winter at a dealer there was a briggs and a kohler rep and they gave tips on maintenance they handed out some cool fact sheets and maintenance sheets Ill try to dig up and post here what they said about the air filters is dont use after market parts because thestandards they must pass are very low and about maintenance they said to clean the pre-filter w a detergent and the filter to lightly tap it dont bash it because the seals may dent...but they said not to blow on it any harder than you can by yourself because the micro filter holes will tear and open up and wont filter the smaller stuff even though the tears may not be visible to the eye

[BUSHMASTER]

Here's what i did .... on my walker it has a Donaldson air filter. on the intake tube i removed the turbo cab and installed a K&N off road air filter its a one peice unit with the mounting made into the rubber base this one fits 1.75-2.00 openings. it cost me $48.00 with shipping,its washable flows a lot of air and easy to clean.i have one on my 67 chevy and have sold a lot of them in my time.this is my prefilter-the Donaldson never get dirty it's been 4 months i have have yet to clean it after all you can only blow out a paper filter so many times, yea i wash it about every two days but saves some money and i know for sure nothing is getting into my engine that don't belong.

[BUSHMASTER]

oh and has far as this statment went "dont use after market parts because thestandards they must pass are very low " that may hold true on really cheap stuff but their playing that game on you ... i spent over 13 years in the automotive after market ......lets see prime line just for example.....sellsthier version of a briggs filter and guess what briggs makes it for them...
as oil filters goes wix isa number one filter when it come to hd and durabilty lets see they make some kubota , cat,cummings air and oilfilters just to name a few and these names napa's premium line and carquest premium filters ....
and wix branded stuff it's all a game and if its good enough for cummings and all the rest its good enough for me
" lube-finder is also a good filter but they many concetrate on big earth equipt and over the road trucks only. oh champion plugs also make so stuff for ac plugs and visa versa...the list gose on. and on

[Edited by BUSHMASTER on 10-23-2000 at 02:48 AM]

[tlcgrounds]

Here in Kansas it's like a dust bowl in August and Our lazers can mulch what ever you run over. Dust is a serious problem. I always blow off our machines after ever property. I run a Don. canister in my lazer liquid cooled but in my 25 hr Kohler I rinse the pre cleaner out with gas and blow it out then spray a fine mist of marvel mystery oil on the pre cleaner. I donn't soak it just a fine mist and then work it in with my fingers before putting it back on the air cleaner. Oh, and I wouldn't get any cheap air filters or oil filters. I run wix oil filters and catrol 10w-30.

[tlcgrounds]

Hey bushmaster-- thats a great idea!!! I love the things with can think up!!!!!!

[LJ lawn]

the walker mowers (diesels) have the worst location for an air filter,down low right in the dust.i usually change mine every month it's not too expensive since i found a place that sells original Kuboda air filters for $9.00 each.i thought of going with the K&N setup,but paper elements are proven to trap the dirt better than the gauze elements.i would like to make a foam wrap that i could oil that would fit over the stock paper element.surprised Kuboda didn't think of that.

[Lawn Cruiser]

In the dealership that I work at we clean them with dish soap and water, the dish soap cut the old oil and cleans it throughly then we work a little bit of oil back into them and put them back in.

[dhenegar]

Thanks guys!! All the tips are great. I will put them to use and pray for a little rain to settle things downs a little bit. Never thought I would say that back in the summer.

[BUSHMASTER]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LJ lawn
[B]the walker mowers (diesels) have the worst location for an air filter,down low right in the dust.

I mine was down their also i took the cap off and ran some
1.5 pvc pipe out and up right near the place they are on the newer ones.and coupled it to the housing useing a plumbing coupler fixd the air intake also and thats wear the k&n sits i still runn both but my dondalson filter after 4 months is still as white as when it was new...so nothing is getting through the K&N.

[John DiMartino]

I buy 4 or 5 pre-cleaners for each machine,they are cheap enough from Rotary-about 1.50 each.I keep them in the trailers toolbox,then i change them on the job or after as needed,when they all get dirty,ill soak them in the slop sink with lots of dishwashsoap,rinse then let them dry ,and oil with whatever bottle i have laying around thats open-usually 10w30 or sae 30.This way I keep mowing and it only takes a minute to change them,dont wait for them to plug up either-I like this method best since i only have to clean once every other week or so.I do the same with blades-sharpen them all at the end of the week,and just change them throughout the week.I only use wix air filters-but i buy all my pre-cleaners from Rotary.

[Keith]

For about $150 you can get a heavy duty Nelson filter system for that Kohler. This is the same set up the 26 FI engine uses with the exception of the carburetor elbow. It comes with everything including both filters. They stay pretty clean too.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1218861&a=9072612&p=29296976



[Edited by Keith on 10-23-2000 at 11:56 AM]

[MOW ED]

The filter system on my Walker is really great. I have a 26hp EFI and there is 3 levels of filtering for it. The first is a turbo type precleaner that spins, The second is the Donaldson paper type canister filter. The third is a smaller canister type filter that fits inside the hole for the bigger Donaldson. It is foam wrapped in mesh and it looks like it is brand new even after 180 hours. The fuel injection system goes right into the top of the engine so I do not have a "Kohler" type filter on the machine.

The owners manual recommends not messing with the filter (main Donaldson) until the restrictor indicator goes off. They state a slightly dirtier filter works better than a frequently cleaned one. Frequent cleanings diminish the efficiency of the filter. So far I have had great luck with this setup and yes it is dry and dusty here too.

[Rufur]

the moral of the reps discussion was you get what you pay for! they advised that it would cost more in the long run by using cheap parts than parts that were made to fit the machinery...it would make sense that an air filter manufacturer makes filter for after market and brand names after all they already have the equipment to do it..however the brand names specifications may be of a higher standard

[bob]

LJ Lawn, please email me were I can get Kubota air filters for $9.

[thelawnguy]

I wash my prefilters in dish soap and water, shake em out and hang em out to dry while I service the rest of the machine. Put it in a sandwich baggy with a little 10-30, squish it around and its good to go. My paper filters last a season looking like new with this procedure.

When I worked at a equip dealer the mfr reps warned against using the gas/oil mix trick, it didnt leave enough oil film on the prefilter and the paper filters ended up clogging well before they were supposed to. And if any gas gets on the paper filter media it will potentially create a weak spot for tears to occur. One ounce of clean engine oil is what was recommended-about two teaspoons worth if I remember correctly.

[Runner]

John, I'm with you on carrying extra blades and filter foams. What I do is carry a few clean pre-oiled ones in a plastic baggy in the trailer. Then if I feel the need to change one out in the field, I can do so easily and without a mess.

[Craig Jones]

Have any of you had any experience with the Prolong filters carried by J Thomas catalogue?