Air intake customization idea

[woodlandfarms]

God I love unemployment... Gives me so much time to come up with ideas on modifications to the PT...

That said....

I saw this post

Air intake modification ideas? - TractorByNet.com And the solution at the end.

I hate the way PT put the air cleaner in the back of the engine compartment. I am wondering if I could do something like this, run a hose from the air cleaner, attaching it to the engine lid (the black lifty thingy and run it up by the gas tank... Even better would be to mount the air intake on the top of the lid, and run the hose to that...

Concerns are causing intake to be so long as to cause a restricted air intake... I am thinking 4 feet of hose or so...

Any thoughts?

 

[MossRoad]

The air intake on my old 1970's IH2500B was only about 3/4" tall by 6" wide that opened into a 4" tube that went about three feet to an air cleaner, then three more feet through a 3" tube to the carb. That was a large, 4 cylinder gas engine.

 

[Bob999]

My major concern would be that the filter would be vulnerable to damage if located outside the steel enclosure. The filter enclosure with the Duetz I have is plastic.

 

[radman1]

You might consider using one of these for the air intake precleaner. Easy to see the stuff accumulate in the bowl. Easy clean out. I have seen them at most farms stores. TSC etc.



AIR PRE CLEANER FOR TRACTOR - Agri Supply

 

[cqaigy2]

Well one thing you won't need to worry about is acceleration like you would with a dragster. So inertia of the air in the air intake shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm kind a curios as to why you want to move the air intake. Is it because you need to clean it often and it's in a hard to access location?

 

[ponytug]

Carl,

I have a couple of thoughts;

• If you do move it, turn the air filter right side up, so that the water and dust drain work as intended.
• You might want to consider switching the air intake on the engine manifold from the rear to the front. (It switches easily on the Deutzs)
• You might want to consider a clean air fan blowing cool, clean air into the engine compartment- you would get cooler oil at the same time.

When I'm in a dusty area, I can't say that there is a great place to get clean air. I try to do dust control first, whenever possible.

All the best,

Peter

 

[woodlandfarms]

I am in a dusty environment 3 months out of the year... 1 month is really bad (and I am not even up there right now). I may be over reacting on all of this but it is such a PITA to clean the filter, There are a few things I would love to do to improve the PT.... That is one of them but it is not completey thought through..

I was more concerned about air flow and restrictions but that comes from my old car experience.. had not thought through constant velocity of a diesel...

Anyway...

 

[ponytug]

For me dust season lines up with fire season, so the realm of permissible outdoor work does get constrained. i.e. mowing only under strictly limited conditions of wind, humidity, and temperature.

Since diesels are fuel limited, a little extra vacuum isn't going to have a big impact, but do use full size piping.

I drove by a water truck two days ago with a Deutz 2011 driving the pump. The air intake was probably five feet long, so they could tuck the engine under the water tank easily. The extensions were all done with 3-4" metal pipe, pieces of rubber hose and some hose clamps. Not fancy, but it got the job done.

All the best,

Peter

 

[SnowRidge]

I think the trash filled engine compartment air is a problem endemic to Power Tracs. My little -- compared to you squeeze ignition lot -- PT-425 has the same problem. I've often wondered if it wasn't because of the hydraulic cooler's fan sucking stuff in through the bottom and sides, along with the engine blower.

I've even thought about rewiring the cooler's fan so that it sucked cleaner air from above the machine and blew it through the cooler down into the engine compartment. I know that would probably raise the engine compartment temperature a bit, but I wonder if it might be worth it if less trash was sucked into the air cleaner.

 

[ponytug]

I think it is a general problem with being out in trash. PTs have it a little harder because they are much closer to the ground and the trash than typical machines.

There are a number of tried and true variations out there. Screens, layers of filter material, rotating filter, etc.

I saw a cute hydraulic cooler that alternated directions for a minute every ten or so, specifically to blow trash back out of the cooler. I took it as pointer that we aren't the only ones with this issue.

You might want to consider a second fan similar to Blackwell's that blows clean, cool air into the compartment. You get less trash, plus you also get a reduction in oil temperatures. Fans aren't super expensive...

All the best,

Peter

I think the trash filled engine compartment air is a problem endemic to Power Tracs. My little -- compared to you squeeze ignition lot -- PT-425 has the same problem. I've often wondered if it wasn't because of the hydraulic cooler's fan sucking stuff in through the bottom and sides, along with the engine blower.

I've even thought about rewiring the cooler's fan so that it sucked cleaner air from above the machine and blew it through the cooler down into the engine compartment. I know that would probably raise the engine compartment temperature a bit, but I wonder if it might be worth it if less trash was sucked into the air cleaner.

 

[SnowRidge]

I saw a cute hydraulic cooler that alternated directions for a minute every ten or so, specifically to blow trash back out of the cooler. I took it as pointer that we aren't the only ones with this issue.

I've been wanting to do that for a couple of years. I just never found the time to design the circuit and install it. It wouldn't help the air filter clogging issue, though, and might make it worse.

 

[ponytug]

Dear Snowridge,

I think it could be done with two back to back 555 countdown timers switching a DPDT relay. Or you could get fancy and have a small pic that counts to ten minutes one way and to one minute the other. Or a 555 countdown with a one minute watchdog reset on the other loop. Add a Dallas thermostat chip and you are off to the races.

Maybe you could even find it on some kids toy and add a high power relay.

If you are having serious clogging issues, why not add a cyclone prefilter like this one?

which works by having a spinning impeller that knocks the coarse dirt out of the incoming airstream as illustrated here;

It is designed to continuously remove coarse dirt from the incoming air stream.

All the best,

Peter

I've been wanting to do that for a couple of years. I just never found the time to design the circuit and install it. It wouldn't help the air filter clogging issue, though, and might make it worse.

 

[SnowRidge]

Dear Snowridge,

I think it could be done with two back to back 555 countdown timers switching a DPDT relay. Or you could get fancy and have a small pic that counts to ten minutes one way and to one minute the other. Or a 555 countdown with a one minute watchdog reset on the other loop. Add a Dallas thermostat chip and you are off to the races.

If you are having serious clogging issues, why not add a cyclone prefilter like this one?

A pic or a 556 (dual 555s in one package) will work. The 556 would probably be the quickest and easiest. If you don't develop for pics all the time, the learning or relearning curve takes time. 555/556 are dead simple and work fine running directly off a 12 vdc system. No power supply needed. They work great in a tough environment, especially if you encapsulate everything.

There is no room for anything else under the PT-425's hood, and the standard Kohler air filter doesn't lend itself to piped in air. Kohler offers an optional heavy duty air cleaner, but Power Trac went with the standard unit, probably because they couldn't figure a way to fit the heavy duty unit under there. That and they saved some money.

What would you need the Dallas chip for?

 

[ponytug]

You could use the dallas chip for selective thermostatic use.

We could be gilding the lilly here...

All the best,

Peter

 

[cqaigy2]

We could be gilding the lilly here...

Peter

Seems like i've seen this quote in this forum before.