This subject came up in another thread and brought a question to mind. I live down a one mile dirt road. It is made of sand with some clay so it can pack down nicely if there have been rains. However, this is a desert and we do not get much rain. Hence, by now the road has lots of loose sand. Just leaving and returning home therefore kicks up huge clouds of this dust sand mixture that gets sucked into the filter. I know there have been warnings against blowing out your air filter for fear of damaging the media, but I was wondering whether it would be okay to pop off the intake hose, which feeds to the inside of the filter tube, and vacuuming at least the bigger stuff out.
My other thought has been to create a temporary mount for some big AC filters that could cover the grills for that one mile.
Removed
Vacuuming your filter won't hurt it any. You might want to use one of those soft round brush fittings on the end.
When I take out the filter, I whack the rubber or metal end a few times on the ground.
If you have room consider using two air filters in series. Then you can safely blow out the first almost as many times as you want to without worrying that anything will get thru the second filter(which you NEVER blow out, but replace every so often).
I do this quite successfully with my Burning Man engines.
Just wanted to mention that most of the dust gets blown up by the exhaust. The tires are secondary.
K & N. Thats what i use. :)
I go camping with the bus in the bush and have to drive on some very dusty gravel roads. What I do is have 2 filters 1- for dirt road and 1- for highway. When the highway filter gets dirty it becomes the new dirt road filter and I buy a new one for the highway.
Lin,
I live on a two mile dirt road.
I also thought that the exhaust was the culprit so I changed them to shoot straight out instead of slightly down. I then found that the tires were, indeed making most of the dust. I slowed down a bunch, the speed makes a lot of difference.
I also shut down my gen set because it really blows a lot of dust since all the heat is exhausted out the bottom.
The radiator squirrel cages on our 5's suck air in thru the radiators and blows it down over the engine and out the bottom. Nothing you can do about that. I stay off of dirt roads as much as possible.
Ed,
I wasn't thinking about the blower, but I guess that would be the major storm. There is no avoiding that one mile in and out though. I was looking at the air intake, and it would be easy to clip some filter over it. Even some window screen would keep the big stuff out.
Gus,
The road also gets to be washboard. The faster you go, the smoother the ride.
I know a lot of you don't have over the road a/c, but since mine is still working, I still have it. When I'm on a dirt road I shut it off because the condensor fan blow straight down and stirs up quite a cyclone.
Dennis
WOW! Remember when the bus intake was up on the center of the roof? More dirt roads and dust back then. What a idea....whose time has come again, and again, and again. Those Outback type Japanese 4X4's have the air intake up at the top of the windshield. Seems an odd place to put it, no?
John
Quote from: JohnEd on July 03, 2010, 05:01:11 PM
WOW! Remember when the bus intake was up on the center of the roof? More dirt roads and dust back then. What a idea....whose time has come again, and again, and again. Those Outback type Japanese 4X4's have the air intake up at the top of the windshield. Seems an odd place to put it, no?
I remember all the way back to 1995 which was the year my bus was built. It has a roof mounted air intake. It is a bad design as birds could get in and block the intake. More than one Dina engine has had to be rebuilt due to this. I covered my intake with hardware cloth after cleaning out the partially clogged intake.
I suspect this was done due to dirt roads in Mexico. Dina designed this model as if it was to be used in Mexico even thought it was built for MCI for the USA and Canadian market. I wish the wheelbase was longer as it has the same amount of luggage space as a 35 footer.
Quote from: JohnEd on July 03, 2010, 05:01:11 PM
WOW! Remember when the bus intake was up on the center of the roof? More dirt roads and dust back then. What a idea....whose time has come again, and again, and again. Those Outback type Japanese 4X4's have the air intake up at the top of the windshield. Seems an odd place to put it, no?
John
usually that is a snorkle for water crossing.
Quote from: NewbeeMC9 on July 04, 2010, 04:56:03 AM
Quote from: JohnEd on July 03, 2010, 05:01:11 PM
WOW! Remember when the bus intake was up on the center of the roof? More dirt roads and dust back then. What a idea....whose time has come again, and again, and again. Those Outback type Japanese 4X4's have the air intake up at the top of the windshield. Seems an odd place to put it, no?
John
usually that is a snorkle for water crossing.
Yeah, kinda like this...
Hummer H1 Very Off Road Drives Completely Underwater! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7gZ28Msa8g#)
I think i will put one on my jeep.....and my bus! ;D
I looked at the OIL BATH filters on a 4106 or 4105, don't remember which. The "filter" seemed to be "three" oil bath filters mounted in the roof of the engine bay. Not something you could transplant by any stretch. I know three things about the oil bath.....so far Firstly farmers have told me that the things worked really well and stopped the finest of particles. Secondly, they are a high maint item. Thirdly, they are very dirty to service. Being high maint seems to be contested and some say they go pretty much all summer without service so maybe it is the environment of operation. The dirty part is contradicted by some that have told me that the "can" on the bottom is held on by a spring clamp that is a quick release and that they only poured the oil off, swabbed out the dust, and put the old oil back in with a smidge added for loss. Engine drain oil I suppose. To me this did not sound like a major headache and I wondered why the change to $100 paper filters that you can't service. The "experts" that i talked to told me that there was never anything wrong with the oil bath and that paper was inferior in some respects and that reduced labor hours for maint was the motivation AND the element filter was cheaper to manufacture. I am not a purist or sunk in antiquity traditionalist BUT, as Clifford says "has worked for 50 years really well so why change?".
From what I have learned, the oil bath(ob) is designed to work with a given displacement engine. A filter for a 6V94 will be smaller than one for a 8V92. Too big and it might pass dirt and too small and it will be restrictive ar high RPM. Soooooooo, what is a source for a OB filter? Would a 6 cylinder 92 ci per cylin "2 stroke" have the same air volume thru put as a 4 cycle of equal size. I know the 2 cycle has twice the power cycles and should act like an engine of twice the CI displacemenbt but there issome factor where the 2 cycle only equals somthing like 70% (some such number) of its apparent volume displacement. I guess thaqt is two questions..where and how to size it.
Am I completely wrong in this quest? Its OK to call me stupid if you can provide the definitive answers. A dirt road wouldn't matter to an engine with an OB filter. Banzii!!! that dirt road. A filter minder ain't god for much with a OB filter, either.
Thanks for the info,
John
John
I once read a comparative study of filters. I think the oil bath did generally well but was not that good at low air volumes like idle.
I have never read that but I know that YOU ARE CORRECT. The OB depends on the velocity of the air making the "corner" inside the filter to "fling" the dirt at the surface of the oil. Centripetal force. The filter is designed for a specific volume and if operated under that volume then will not work well. I think that is why the OB has a screen inside that gets whetted with oil and works at low air volumes. Run for extended periods at idle I think the OB would fail to protect the engine and not be the appropriate filter application. I see truckers let their "big rig's" sit and idle for many hours at truck stops. Especially in the winter. We don't do that with 2 strokes.
I really thank you for calling that to attention with some authority. I have pondered that as a "flaw" for years but never asked and never heard it mentioned. For those farmers operating in sever dust conditions to be proponents of the OB they surely must have been clued in. Maybe engines that came so equipped came with a caution on the subject? I sure don't know. Heck, I am still looking for a sizing and source. I guess you could look up the specs on a 8V92 air filter for the answer.
Thank you for that information, Lin.
John
Falls Filtration Inc still makes oil bath filters for industrial use. I would bet that could make one for a bus if you really wanted one.
It looks like General Eastern also made oil Bath filters, but they don't seem to show up as a current product on their web site.
Lin,
My 4104 won't go fast enough to smooth out a washboard!!
I think a lot of the dusty engine problem is caused by missing engine bottom pans. I plan to make new ones one at a time to see what will be the effect - starting with the left side. I think the radiator fan sucks up a lot of dirt so a cover should help.
The left side is a pain though because of the exhaust pipes.