TIL pre-oiling air filters might be worse than running them dry in heavy dust conditions

I was working on a C7 Cat in a feedlot outside Amarillo last month and tried pre-oiling my Donaldson air filter with the recommended amount of aero oil. Within 50 hours the restriction gauge was pegged and the filter looked like mud. Swapped it out and ran the replacement dry just to test, and after 80 hours it was still clean and pulling good numbers. So did I just waste money on oil or is there a specific environment where pre-oiling actually helps? Anyone else seen this split before?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_palmer16d ago

I feel you on this one. I ran into the same thing with my JD 8400 out in the California central valley last summer. Took me three filters to figure out the dry ones just work better in that kind of grit.

jenkins.reese16d ago

Yeah that tracks. More stuff ain't always better.

morgan_bailey9316d ago

Wait, 47? Like the actual number of things they had? I'm sitting here trying to picture someone with 47 of anything that wasn't like, socks or something. That's wild to me. Most people I know can barely keep track of 3 or 4 of the same item without losing one. I can't imagine storing 47 of anything that isn't a tiny collectible. Feels like at that point you're not even using them, you're just hoarding them.