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Change Your Air Filter!


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My truck gets a new air filter every time I change the oil and give it new oil & fuel filters. Sometimes I feel like THAT is even too long...and it's only a couple months.

The filters in my pickup trucks generally last several years...but they don't play in the dust near as much, and probably see less miles in 3 years than the Mack does in 1 month. B)

That one was pretty bad. :blink:

When approaching a 4-way stop, the vehicle with the biggest tires has the right of way!
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I know a lot of guys that change there air filter every year whether it needs it or not,the filter in my cl is going on three years,I'm going by what mack says and watching the restrition gauge,is this wrong should I just change it anyway.This subject has come up from time to time with some of my friends and they say I'm nuts for not changing it once a year,I tell them to read the label on the filter housing,what do guys think?

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I know a lot of guys that change there air filter every year whether it needs it or not,the filter in my cl is going on three years,I'm going by what mack says and watching the restrition gauge,is this wrong should I just change it anyway.This subject has come up from time to time with some of my friends and they say I'm nuts for not changing it once a year,I tell them to read the label on the filter housing,what do guys think?

I change mine usually once a year,though i do keep an eye on it,i look it over at PM time,usually wipe out the filter housing,blow it out with an air gun etc. If it looks like it needs replacing i do,but you gotta remember i do NO off-road work,so mine lasts considerably longer than usual. I think if i did what you do,i would replace it more frequently,just my 2 cents!..........Mark

Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate.

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I change mine usually once a year,though i do keep an eye on it,i look it over at PM time,usually wipe out the filter housing,blow it out with an air gun etc. If it looks like it needs replacing i do,but you gotta remember i do NO off-road work,so mine lasts considerably longer than usual. I think if i did what you do,i would replace it more frequently,just my 2 cents!..........Mark

I always vaccum (or vacuum?) the housing out on mine if there's any crap left in it when I take out the filter. Figgerd if I took the air hose to it it'd blow crap down towards the turbo. When I had the Mack I'd usually change it twice a year...'new' truck has 2 filters on it-shit ain't cheap!

Ever wonder how a blind person knows when to stop wiping?

gallery_1977_876_21691.jpg

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I always vaccum (or vacuum?) the housing out on mine if there's any crap left in it when I take out the filter. Figgerd if I took the air hose to it it'd blow crap down towards the turbo. When I had the Mack I'd usually change it twice a year...'new' truck has 2 filters on it-shit ain't cheap!

Thats what i meant, vacuum out the housing,blow out the filter itself.......my dad ran peterbilts,i know those Vortox filters aint cheap!..Mark

Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate.

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What about the oil bath filters ran on the B Models, does anyone feel that this was good and should stay with that set-up? I cannot remove a filter from its housing on my B and have to clean it by back flushing with a cleaner, let it dry and install with oil up to it's designated mark on the housing. I like this system because I feel it helps lubricate the valves in the upper part of my engine. I have not seen any large debris when I flushed the system last year for the first time since i've owned the truck since Sept. 2008.

mike

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What about the oil bath filters ran on the B Models, does anyone feel that this was good and should stay with that set-up? I cannot remove a filter from its housing on my B and have to clean it by back flushing with a cleaner, let it dry and install with oil up to it's designated mark on the housing. I like this system because I feel it helps lubricate the valves in the upper part of my engine. I have not seen any large debris when I flushed the system last year for the first time since i've owned the truck since Sept. 2008.

mike

I have the same type filter and I didn't really know how to clean it. I took the bottom off and ran a stick up around edges as far as I could reach and drug out all sorts of crap-probably hadn't been cleaned for years.

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

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I know a lot of guys that change there air filter every year whether it needs it or not,the filter in my cl is going on three years,I'm going by what mack says and watching the restrition gauge,is this wrong should I just change it anyway.This subject has come up from time to time with some of my friends and they say I'm nuts for not changing it once a year,I tell them to read the label on the filter housing,what do guys think?

I dont trust thoes restriction guages at all. At least change it once ayear minimum. And as some of the other guys said , try to vacume out the housing after you remove the filter if you can, I have seen pics of "sandblasted" turbo impellers from my turbo guy.

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I have the same type filter and I didn't really know how to clean it. I took the bottom off and ran a stick up around edges as far as I could reach and drug out all sorts of crap-probably hadn't been cleaned for years.

Mornin Tom,

Yea I just sprayed Mean Green solution for what I thought was redickulous amount of times into the filter and the main large housing and got mostly oilly grease and fine amounts of dirt, not alot, but what I thought was not bad for this set-up. The owner before me must of had someone take care of important issues mostly. I now have the engine ready to take out of it's frame so it can be gone through and I want to paint it the original blue/ green it was once upon a time.

mike

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Thats what i meant, vacuum out the housing,blow out the filter itself.......my dad ran peterbilts,i know those Vortox filters aint cheap!..Mark

It's not the fancy pants Vortox....the other brand, the name of which is eluding me at the moment... Anyhow, mine are the big ones-15", my brother's are the smaller ones-13". Filters for his are noticably cheaper than mine...dammit. I wanna say it cost me over a Benjamin when I replaced both filters a few months ago.

Ever wonder how a blind person knows when to stop wiping?

gallery_1977_876_21691.jpg

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I dont trust thoes restriction guages at all. At least change it once ayear minimum. And as some of the other guys said , try to vacume out the housing after you remove the filter if you can, I have seen pics of "sandblasted" turbo impellers from my turbo guy.

Yea I know what ya mean,I hit the reset button every now and than just to make sure its working,I'll take your advice and change it once a year anyway,I only put about 20,ooo miles a year on it,I do understand macks reasoning though,they don't want you to take any chances of dusting the engine by messing with the filter to often and unnecessarily.

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It's not the fancy pants Vortox....the other brand, the name of which is eluding me at the moment... Anyhow, mine are the big ones-15", my brother's are the smaller ones-13". Filters for his are noticably cheaper than mine...dammit. I wanna say it cost me over a Benjamin when I replaced both filters a few months ago.

"guess i'll have the biggun's then"...Karl Childers

Producer of poorly photo-chopped pictures since 1999.

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I know alot of guys blow out the air cleaner element but that is a good way of blowinbg a hole in the paper.I do shake them against the floor.I was in a donaldson sales meeting years ago and they declared that a stopped up air cleaner or one loaded with dirt was still as efective as new a filter only thing it cant get enough air thru it.

glenn akers

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The way I clean an oil bath air cleaner is to remove the housing from the truck and submerge it in a vat of diesel fuel and shake the filter assembly while it's submerged. Let it dwell in the fuel for 1/2 hour or so and periodically shake, or agitate it. This will loosen the oil and built up garbage from the metallic filter media. When the media is clean, let the assembly drain, then rinse with hot water in a deep sink until the water appears clean.

I like oil bath air cleaners myself as I've never had any problems in dry, and dusty conditions. They work quite simply; the incoming air is drawn into the inlet tube and the inrushing air and particulate impacts the pool of clean oil sitting in the bottom pan with the heavy particles becoming instantly tackified, and trapped. This allows passage of cleaned air and minute particles to be drawn into the engine through the media material which is a wire mesh trapping the smaller solids. If the filter is serviced and maintained properly, they are very effective with air filtration.

Dry element types are good also but as mentioned, expensive. Think I paid $55.00 for the one in the RL755L a few years ago. I replaced it because the truck didn't have a hood on the element housing, and water is unkind to the filter media. It was due for service anyway.

Don't think I'd trust the "filter minder" type indicators either. I do have one truck, (winch truck) that has this type all the others with dry element filter use a manometer gauge in the dash calibrated in inches of water column. I think these are a Donaldson branded product and use an 1/4 inch plastic line to the filter housing to indicate filter restriction.

Glenn is correct that a filter is good until it cannot pass enough air through it. A partially plugged air filter is actually more efficient at filtration than a new one. We've been told over 20 years to not "blow" a paper element filter clean with shop air as it breakes down the cellose composition paper used in these things.

Rob

Dog.jpg.487f03da076af0150d2376dbd16843ed.jpgPlodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke.

 

 

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I always vaccum (or vacuum?) the housing out on mine if there's any crap left in it when I take out the filter. Figgerd if I took the air hose to it it'd blow crap down towards the turbo. When I had the Mack I'd usually change it twice a year...'new' truck has 2 filters on it-shit ain't cheap!

that little mack filter is a whole lot cheaper than them 2 big ol peterbilt filters aint it but hay at least you got a pete right

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No, dont trust filter minder indicators, they are your enemy. Quickie story, several years ago was in strip mine on bulldozer, dozer was very low powered and smothering down. I called maintenance on radio, they showed up, looked at filter indicator, it was okay so they put fuel filters on it and left saying they couldnt break seal on air filter housing open unless indicator in red. Dozer still smothered down, I killed it and removed air filter, it was really, really bad. I removed filter indicator, hate to admit this, put it to my lips, gave a quick draw,{aint saying suck}, and put it in red. I screwed it back in, put dirty filter back in, called maintenance again, they showed up, looked at filter indicator in red and stated it must have been stuck earlier. I didnt let on that I knew anything bout it, they pulled air filter, said "Well damn, heres the problem, you need an air filter!" Heh, I just said no shit, magine that. They put me an air filter in and all was well, dozer pushed good. Durn stupid company maintenance policies,,,heh heh,,,randyp

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No, dont trust filter minder indicators, they are your enemy. Quickie story, several years ago was in strip mine on bulldozer, dozer was very low powered and smothering down. I called maintenance on radio, they showed up, looked at filter indicator, it was okay so they put fuel filters on it and left saying they couldnt break seal on air filter housing open unless indicator in red. Dozer still smothered down, I killed it and removed air filter, it was really, really bad. I removed filter indicator, hate to admit this, put it to my lips, gave a quick draw,{aint saying suck}, and put it in red. I screwed it back in, put dirty filter back in, called maintenance again, they showed up, looked at filter indicator in red and stated it must have been stuck earlier. I didnt let on that I knew anything bout it, they pulled air filter, said "Well damn, heres the problem, you need an air filter!" Heh, I just said no shit, magine that. They put me an air filter in and all was well, dozer pushed good. Durn stupid company maintenance policies,,,heh heh,,,randyp

Randy, You got my VOTE iffin ya run for office of some kind.

mike

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