Air filter cleaning. A couple of questions

[tallguy104]

Hey guys.
I've got a U-17 and B2301. Just want to check if I'm doing the right thing with regards to my air filters.

1. The manual says clean the air filter every 50 hours "or more frequently in dusty conditions". There's a drought here and it's become pretty dusty...and I'm moving dirt with both machines which results in clouds of dust every time I dump a load. How frequently is frequently?? Would cleaning once every 10 hours be adequate? Or should I really be cleaning like once per hour?

2. I don't have an air compressor so I've been using an 18v Makita blower to clean the filter. Please check out this video I took of me cleaning with it. Can anyone comment on whether this is actually a satisfactory way to clean the filter?

 

[yorkies77]

When I worked as a logger we took the air filters out of all the equipment daily. We just would knock the dust out by hitting the equipment with it. Thump, thump, thump and when the dust quit coming out we put it back in. This is what I do daily now with the tractor. When it dry and dusty a lot comes out of it.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yep your doing fine:
Good cleaning method as you won't damage the filter element!

 

[MOOTS]

Operator: Oh yea the filter is fine.
The filter:

What you’re doing is better than most. Keep at it.

 

[tallguy104]

Operator: Oh yea the filter is fine.
The filter:
View attachment 150500

What you’re doing is better than most. Keep at it.

Whoa that's some dust!

 

[McMXi]

Hey guys.
I've got a U-17 and B2301. Just want to check if I'm doing the right thing with regards to my air filters.

1. The manual says clean the air filter every 50 hours "or more frequently in dusty conditions". There's a drought here and it's become pretty dusty...and I'm moving dirt with both machines which results in clouds of dust every time I dump a load. How frequently is frequently?? Would cleaning once every 10 hours be adequate? Or should I really be cleaning like once per hour?

2. I don't have an air compressor so I've been using an 18v Makita blower to clean the filter. Please check out this video I took of me cleaning with it. Can anyone comment on whether this is actually a satisfactory way to clean the filter?

I think it's more likely that air filters aren't cleaned enough as opposed to too much so I would have no problem with every 10 hours. In the summer months I'll blow out the air filter at the end of the day if I've been running the tractors in dusty conditions. Both tractors have an outer and inner filter so I'm ok with end of day cleaning. I'll blow out the radiator a few times a day when pulling cutters around.

I have a couple of wands (shown below) that I use with a compressor at my place to blow out the filters, radiators and condensers, but use an Echo gas powered leaf blower when a tractor is off property. The Echo does a decent job and the air filter fits quite well on the end of the blower tube.

 

[MOOTS]

Whoa that's some dust!

Correct. But to be fair, this was a field rake that spends all of its time dragging ballfields, so very dusty conditions. I’ve tried to get the guys to blow them weekly instead of never. They are getting better.