Mowing Removing Chaff From Tractor Radiator

Papasmirf · Dec 30, 2013

I'll agree that you never want to dimenish the entering cfm of the radiator. But, after being in the hvac industry as a master contractor, service man, installer, and service manager of two companies, cfm is my business. Plus being raised on tractors for close to 61 years, this little cheap air filter that everyone buys for their house system and don't want to change it once in their lifetime when it should be changed monthly, will not diminish the cfm. It will only pick up the larger of the debri allowing the smaller stuff be caught by the screen. I've used this on 8n's, JD 5200, swathers, spray tractors, bobcats, and two backhoes. It's imperitive to keep close tabs on the temp gage wether you use the filter or not. This filter is only a light duty prefilter to give you a little more time in the field where the money is.

kebo · Dec 30, 2013

Just a thought, but a small ac pancake style compressor (as mentioned) could probably be powered by a DC-AC inverter (plugged into your truck), as long as it has a sufficient wattage rating to run the air compressor. Run it just enough to fill up the compressor tank, and then let it "charge" the tank back up after you use it to blow out the radiator. They are not that expensive, and could come in handy for other uses as well.

Papasmirf · Dec 30, 2013

I have a 1000 watt power inverter that may not run a compressor. I'll try my small pancake tomorrow and give you guys test results.

john_bud · Dec 30, 2013

I use a gas leaf blower all the time. Works great.

Bird · Dec 30, 2013

I keep a small brush in the tractor's storage compartment.
To make the brush most efficient, buy a 2 or 3 inch paint brush and cut the bristles down to about an inch. Then the bristles are stiff enough to do a good job removing the chaff from the grill and radiator.

I, too, used to keep a paint brush in the toolbox for that purpose, then I'd use the air-compressor, blowing from back to front, when I got back to the shop. A 2' blowgun from Northern Tool has a bend near the outlet end that worked just fine.

JakeBrake · Dec 30, 2013

Guys,

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

This is the brush I use to clean the radiator in the field. There's not much space around the radiator on the L3830.

Amazon.com - 25" Flexible Dryer Vent & Refrigerator Coil Brush