Oil & Fuel Micron value of OEM fuel filters on Kubota

[jonyyuma]

guys, Anyone looked up the micron value of the filters for kubota tractors? I would like to see it? I am changing my tractor over to a racor 30 micron water sep unit. It will be primary, and the new OEM filter will be protected. My tractor is 3 cyl and 32 hp, but I have forgotten the number on the side of the filter. If i cannot get an answer here then I will contact Colemans ask them, since they supplyed it..I would like to have it down to 5...Thanks for you time..

 

[Jerry/MT]

guys, Anyone looked up the micron value of the filters for kubota tractors? I would like to see it? I am changing my tractor over to a racor 30 micron water sep unit. It will be primary, and the new OEM filter will be protected. My tractor is 3 cyl and 32 hp, but I have forgotten the number on the side of the filter. If i cannot get an answer here then I will contact Colemans ask them, since they supplyed it..I would like to have it down to 5...Thanks for you time..

Most of the ones I'm familiar with are 10 micron filters. I suppose you can go down to 5 micron but if your fuel or fuel tank is dirty you'll be changing them regularly. Does your tractor have a lift pump upstream of the filter? If it dosen't and is striclly gravity flow fuel deliery system to the injector pump, you should probably stick to the OEM filtration levels.

 

[jonyyuma]

It is gravity thru the filters ,then the mech fuel pump, to the injector pump. I figured the 30 micron is good to protect the OEM one. I had hoped to prove OEM is at least Finer?

 

[Jerry/MT]

It is gravity thru the filters ,then the mech fuel pump, to the injector pump. I figured the 30 micron is good to protect the OEM one. I had hoped to prove OEM is at least Finer?

That's interestting.

My NH is suction feed through the water separator and then it goes into the lift pump and then throught the fuel filter to the injector pump. The fuel pump has a cleanable screen on it. I think the water separators are at 30 microns because water molecules in treated fuels acrete to form big globules that slide off the water separator filter toward the bottom drain and also the fuel filter (if they are small enough to get that far).

 

[RickB]

If you are asking about the little paper cartridge style fuel filters used in varying sizes on nearly all CUT's, I'd not expect them to be less than 20 microns.

 

[jonyyuma]

Rick, I expect that you might be right, i hoped it was at least a 15....But..??

 

[Jay4200]

16um (50%)

https://dynamic.donaldson.com/webc/WebStore/search/item_detail.html?section=10161&item=146685

Wow - I could build a whole amplifier on a piece of trash that big.

JayC

 

[jonyyuma]

Okay, Kubota did not have it available either?

 

[bulldog69]

I went thru this years ago. If I remember right the factory Kubota filters are 15 micron.

Help me out though, what's the purpose of putting a filter with a higher micron rating? What will that do for you?

I went the other way with mine. I installed a Dahl filter in front of the factory filter with a 2 micron rating. I wanted mine to catch more trash, not less. Been using it for 10 or 11 years with very good results. I'm all for better filtration but I don't understand adding a filter system that does less work.

I'm open for new ideas though so school me.

 

[jonyyuma]

My NEW Racor filter is 30 micron and says it is for primary filtering...I already have a screen filter from my Mercedes taking out the large stuff...The secondary filter{original Kubota} rating was unknown to me. Nearly all our Gen station stuff has two filters to prevent plugging up ..Still would like Kubota to say what it's rating is on filters??.But the Cat people say to step it down from the front for longer life use? BD, i had considered doing the same as you, and go down to at least 10 microns , BEFORE it goes to the original filter....I really don't think it is wrong, I just don't like repairs on fuel systems..

 

[bulldog69]

A person can't filter to much in my book. I filter all my fuel before in even goes in the tractors. All my storage tanks have 10 micron filter/seperators on them.

 

[jonyyuma]

A person can't filter to much in my book. I filter all my fuel before in even goes in the tractors. All my storage tanks have 10 micron filter/seperators on them.

Agreed, I want the least problems possible. He whom has the Cleanest fuel wins???

 

[V1Rotate]

On the BX series there are two inline filters, both with the same part numbers.
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[hugho]

I went thru this years ago. If I remember right the factory Kubota filters are 15 micron.

Help me out though, what's the purpose of putting a filter with a higher micron rating? What will that do for you?

I went the other way with mine. I installed a Dahl filter in front of the factory filter with a 2 micron rating. I wanted mine to catch more trash, not less. Been using it for 10 or 11 years with very good results. I'm all for better filtration but I don't understand adding a filter system that does less work.

I'm open for new ideas though so school me.

You don't need schooling. You are spot on and could teach the course!. I am a former Alaskan commercial fisherman and we had horrible fuel on the remote Alaskan coast 30-50 years ago, sitting in drums and rusty tanks over the winter so we were OCD on fuel. The ones that had expensive boats filtered all fuel thru centrifuges before it hit the tanks. Some had small centrifuges on board. Most of us had fuel "polishing systems" which filtered the fuel coming from the tank to the engine continuously. We had a main engine and gen sets so losing one or the other could ruin a fishing season since our "openings" to fish sometimes were only a few weeks. Clean fuel was the #1 priority. We used RACOR filters exclusively on our fleets. Nothing else. Racors come in coarse, medium and fine filters and some are huge and designed for large marine engines. If memory serves you can get them in 20 or 30, 10, 5(?) and 2 microns. I kept all my racors and the filters when I retired and I have racors with 2 micron filters on our 2 cummins pickups, our 3 mercedes diesels, our VW tdi diesel and all 3 of our tractors, a big AC, a Kubota L:45 and a M6040. That is a lot of filters and they are all standardized to 2 microns. Makes maintenance and inventory a breeze! I also have a CAT 1 or 2 micron on the shelf, an extremely good spin on. I mount them where they are accessible. Clean fuel saves injection pumps and injectors. You can decide if you want to use them as primary or secondary filters. I use them as primary filters because our local fuel is very clean. Obviously I never bother to change the Kubota filters if they are secondary. If the racors are secondary I just change the kubotas. I also run my fuel into my own storage tanks and filter it going in. I hardly ever change filters and we used to put pressure gauges on our lines to aid in monitoring our filters. You can get chinese aftermarket Racor knockoffs which I have used but I use ONLY genuine RACOR filters. The best!!

 

[finn1]

The two filters are probably parallel flow, which would double filter life.

Filtering to a micron rating below the manufacturer specifications isn’t always best either. Remember that pressure drop and filter life are part of the trade off factors a manufacturer takes into consideration. A lower micron rating filter will be more susceptible to jelling at low temperatures (flow restriction)

 

[Industrial Toys]

Without knowing the filtration, substituting filters is Ify business. And generally the OEMS won't tell you. It's why I have given up getting cheaper filters and just go with OEM. Don't some (or all) filters bypass if they plug up? That would worry me with too fine a filtration. How would you know?

 

[fried1765]

"How would you know"??

Vacuum gauges on the top of each filter housing!

I used them for years on a diesel motor yacht.
Start pulling a higher vacuum?....replace filter.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Another reason I only go with OEM. I have seen a bundh of videos where various filters are disected. One major brand (Think it was the "F" brand) was utter and total paper garbage inside. Recently I saw a video where a guy opened up several Car Quest Fuel ilters and found steel inside already rusted, conceivably introducing rust into the fuel system. Like, you can't trust anything these days. All about marketing and making MONEY!

 

[MHarryE]

Filters on any equipment I have been an engineer or I have owned have never bypassed dirty fuel. Plug and engine dies, that’s it. At Cat, we had one engine very sensitive to dirty fuel. Mechanics frequently fill filters with fuel in order to save time priming. It will take only one filter full of dirty fuel to damage the injectors. Engine group came out with a new filter mount to solve the problem. Two filters on one base, one filter upside down. That was a crutch to get by until the injectors were redesigned to be more dirt tolerant but the hints one finds everywhere advising people to pre-fill filters makes engine designers cringe.

 

[hugho]

Very true that restriction of a lower micron filter can happen but jelling will shut down all filters no matter the micron rating. The key is to avoid fuel gelling. I also use large filter housings to increase the filter area and put a pressure gauge ahead of the filter to spot impending restriction. I am assuming I AM CUTTING WEAR ON INJECTORS AND INJECTION PUMPS BY SUPPLYING SUPER CLEAN FUEL. Who knows if that is the case.