Installed a pair of Racor R12T fuel water separators on both my M9000's

[5030]

Been contemplating them for a while now. I purchased aftermarket separators but bought the Racor R12T elements with Aquabloc and put them on the aftermarket bases. As expensive as off road diesel is today, the quality of the product can be questionable at times so I felt that additional 'fuel polishing' as well as better water / fuel separation was in order. I contacted Parker / Racor and they recommended the R12T (which has 10 micron filtering capability plus the flow rate (15 gallons per hour) is well in keeping with my diesel fuel usage requirements on both units.

The units are very compact over length with filter cartridges and clear bowls installed is under 12" and the bowls have a provision for draining contaminants plus there is an additional blanked off plug where a electronic water in fuel sensor can be installed to monitor the unit without having to observe it constantly. Not something I need but it is there and Parker-Racor offers the sensor. The R12T filters are spin on to the cast aluminum powder coated base and the clear bowl spins on to the bottom of the filter. Sealing is via neoprene gaskets jut like an lil filter and the bowl to cartridge seal is via 'O' ring. I suggest applying a film of oil or 'O' ring lubricant to both seal's

One of my pet peeves about Kubota's (especially my pre 4 engines is the location of the clear fuel / sediment bowl and the difficulty in accessing it as well as the limited amount of filter in it. The R12T basically eliminates the need to ever having to fiddle with it ever again.

With the new common rail emissions engine and their need for clean, water free fuel, I'd think the R12T filter would be a good addition.

Install is pretty easy too. Find a suitable spot where the unit won't be in harm's way, route the fuel line from the fuel tank to the inlet barb and from the outlet barb to the system. Your lift pump (or gravity flow) will keep the filter full of diesel and the filter base does have an air bleed screw on it if necessary. In my case mounting could be above or below the fuel tank location as mine engines are lift pump fed but if yours are gravity fed, the unit must be below the level of the fuel tank bottom.

 

[workinonit]

Could these be installed on the fuel nurse tank pumps vs installing on the tractor?

 

[Hay Dude]

Could these be installed on the fuel nurse tank pumps vs installing on the tractor?

Exactly!
Put clean fuel in a clean tank in the first place and ther’s nothing to worry about. Treat the tank while it’s stored.
He probably realizes the kubota fuel filtration system is borrowed from a 20HP tractor and it’s lacking in filtration quality.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Care to toss a few pictures up? I'd love to see how you mounted them.

 

[workinonit]

I was just curious. The lst thing I need is another filter to maintain on that tractor. Mine has 3 fuel filters now.

 

[5030]

Could these be installed on the fuel nurse tank pumps vs installing on the tractor?

Absolutely. While to 'Golden Rod' water block filters are a bit cheaper (you still need the Golden Rod housing to use them). The Golden Rod bowl has no provision for draining water at all. Besides, I trust Racor, they have been providing fuel polishing systems for decades. Most large trucks come with one today. Racor offers the R12 spin on filters with 'Aquablock' in various micron ratings but they recommended the 10 micron as anything smaller can impede fuel flow and they say is not needed. Like I said, I went with an aftermarket 'Conplus' housing that comes with an aftermarket 10 micron filter (which I replaced with the Racor) for like 35 bucks shipped (on Amazon). The Racor base is 4 times that. I posted a review on Amazon, gave it 5 stars. I was kind of agonizing over a base with built in primer pumnp but that isn't necessary as I have a primer pump on top of the spin on fuel filter on the engine now.

I believe the R12T should cover the needs of about 95 percent of all tractors on this site. It's rated for @10 microns, 30 gallons per hour. Because I'm thrifty (my wife calls me cheap) I wasn't about to pay over 100 bucks for the genuine Racor base and filter. I co do the Chinese spin off as all the physical stull is the same (the Chinese are real good at copying stuff as we all know.

It's my understanding that Kubota is now adding a similar unit to their new T4 final tractors. Guess Kubota has come to the realization that their current system is inadequate for a high pressure common rail ecm controlled engine. I'll take some pictures when I get a chance Nothing fancy, I mounted it on the loader subframe upright on the injection pump side. Drilled 2 holes and tapped them for stainless steel hex head bolts. Hookup was easy. I did have to buy an extra length (3 foot piece of fuel line) to go from the unit to the existing primary filter and some worm clamps. Hardest part was removing the loader so I could access the fuel line coming out of the right saddle tank.

 

[5030]

I was just curious. The lst thing I need is another filter to maintain on that tractor. Mine has 3 fuel filters now.

Myself, I worry more about water in the diesel than anything else and while my engine mounted sediment bowl filter drops the water, it's real hard to access and it has very limited capacity too.... and I'm sure the R12 will remove stuff like algae in the fuel. Nothing is gonna get past it. Probably get one for my diesel pickup truck too.

 

[Smokeydog]

Good solution to improve fuel filtration. Anyone depending on diesel engines learns quickly or pay$ the importance fuel filtration maintenance.

5030, would you have enough confidence in the new Racor filter to replace the Kubota OEM? The OEM position is not too bad to service on my tractors but not a lot of extra room to add a second filter.

Not selected a 2 micron element more a temperature issue below 20F?

 

[5030]

Good solution to improve fuel filtration. Anyone depending on diesel engines learns quickly or pay$ the importance fuel filtration maintenance.

5030, would you have enough confidence in the new Racor filter to replace the Kubota OEM? The OEM position is not too bad to service on my tractors but not a lot of extra room to add a second filter.

Not selected a 2 micron element more a temperature issue below 20F?

I may pull the sediment bowl filter out entirely. I still have the spin on cartridge filter installed on the engine and will keep it as the primer pump on mine is on top that filter. Racor told me the 2 micron filter cartridge is overkill and could possibly impede the fuel flow. I'm more concerned with water than debris in the fuel and the 'aquablock' filter pulls that and deposits it in the clear bowl below the spin on filter so one, I can see if there is any and two I can drain it off when necessary.

The R12T 10 micron Racor is much finer micron wise that the Kubota spin on filter (according to Racor) anyway. On my tractors, accessing even the motor mounted spin on is a chore as is the sediment bowl as both are behind the FEL mounts. Same deal with the oil filter, always a messy undertaking changing any of them out anbd alkways followed by a wash down as I really dislike filth on my units.

As an aside, if anyone wants to see how I mounted them, all they have to do is look at your mounting, I mounted mine exactly the same way but I drilled and tapped the steel and used threaded stainless hex bolts. Mine are on the opposite side however.

I did quite a bit of research before I settled on the Conplus filter base on Amazon versus the genuine Racor base. Cost wise it's about 1/4th of the Racor base and it's an exact copy (gotta give it to the Chinese as copy cats, they do a good job at making low cost imitations. All the treads are UNC so interchanging the genuine Racor R12T filter is a snap.

It appears that a lot of the knockoff's leak whereas the Conplus don't. I believe that has a lot to do with pre lubricating the 'O' ring and base gasket. When I got the filters, the bowl as well as the spin on filter was pretty darn tight, had to carefully loosen both with the base in my vise to secure it and I used my strap oil filter wrench and a 1/2" drive ratchet to remove both of them. Neither the bowl 'O' ring nor the base to filter gasket were lubricated. I applied a smear of 'O' ring grease to both.

The Racor (genuine) R12T filters ship with a new base gasket and bowl 'O' ring. so the new replaces the old.

You can buy replacement bowl's and water drains too, in fact you can buy all the replacement parts either on the Racor Store website or Amazon, your choice.

Do be apprised that the Genuine Racor R12T spin on filter elements are not cheap. They retail for around 20 bucks each plus shipping. One thing I'm glad I did was the addition of the filler neck strainers that Kubota used to supply with the tractors but quit doing. I did a thread with the part number and they will fit all the Kubota filler necks and I assume other brands as well.

Took a gander into them the other day when I fueled both of the tractors and I was amazed at how much 'junk' they caught that would otherwise be floating or on the bottom of the fuel tank, waiting to plug up the fuel pickup line. Had quite a bit of 'stuff' in the filter mesh. I need to pull them out and clean them at some point.

My diesel farm truck is gonna get one too. Install will be a bit harder because I want it under the hood, not on the frame rail underneath and I'll probably have to jump up a size anyway because the fuel flow is more than my tractors are.

My philosophy is, the fuel is never clean enough no matter what. Might as well apply an ounce of insurance compared to a pound of fix down the road. My fuel gets delivered to my bulk tank and then goes in the tractors, no 5 gallon cans or transport from the filling station to the farm and then into them but I still want to mitigate any and all contaminants no matter what.

 

[5030]

I still 'dose' all my diesel fuel with Archoil AR6500 Cetane improver, that don't change and neither does the addition of Power Service winter fuel additive in the winter. Been using that stuff for years as well as their Nano Borate additive in the crankcase oil. None of it is cheap but it really keeps the engine clean inside and I use my tractors for snow removal in the winter and it gets cold here. I don't want 'jelly' fuel issues.

I'd say at 6000 hours plus on the one, when Dennis ran the overhead, even he was amazed how clean it was inside. No sludge, no deposits in the valve cover at all. Nothing. I'm all good with that.