Steel Wool Filter for Kama 554

[3RRL]

You may have read this thread about re-routing the breather on my Kama?
Re-Routing Breather Tube on Kama 554
What this did is re-route some of the blow by from my engine back into the air intake manifold so it could be re-burned. Larry had mentioned that his breather is plumbed to his intake manifold on his Jinma and so is Loretta's 284. Where I put the end of the breather tubing, it went into my air filter so I could still read the Filter Minder if the filter got plugged up. I didn't want to get a false reading from air being sucked into it from the breather cap, bypassing the air filter.



Anyway, I figured the filter would get plugged faster ... which it did because of the oil vapors now going into it. It showed up on the filter minder when it got plugged up. The photos below are NOT of the plug up but just show the Filter minder that Larry installed for me.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

I tried to wash out the paper element and dry it out, but the paper clumped together and the filter was destroyed.



I had bought spares from Chip at Artrac and they are pretty expensive to replace. In fact, I just ordered another spare filter. Anyway, after ruining the paper filter, I went retro and removed the paper element. I bought some 000 steel wool and jammed it into the air filter case pretty tightly. Then glued the filter ends back together again with an oil resistant RTV material. I did this when I had just over 600 hours and now I have nearly 630 hours on the Kama. It seems to be working pretty good. The oil vapors from the breather lubricate the steel wool making collection of debris sort of like the old oil bath air filters.
Rob-

 

[Captinjack]

Keep us advised as you acrue more time on this. I'd be interested in what the filter minder does when you brush hog the next time. Will the filter pressure drop increase at the same rate as the paper filter and what it drops down to after cleaning.

My Kama sucks a lot of air through the filter.

Good luck

 

[mattman]

I am scared more by a nasty air filter than black as soot oil. I would probably just pay the money for the paper air filters versus taking a chance on giving your engine a home made boring job. I feel as though the incoming air is critcal to the life of an engine. If the steel wool is letting dirt get by it that is not good.

 

[mattman]

Forgot to add that some tractors have an inner and outer filter element. Lot's of equipment has the double filter set up. The incoming air quality is considered important to the manufactures hence the dual filters.

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for the feedback Jack and Matt.
I will keep a close eye on it to determine how good a job it's doing. I sure don't want to screw up my engine. I do have that steel wool pack in there pretty tight. I was afraid it might be to restrictive but apparently not.

 

[greg_g]

I've always followed the precept that diesel engine longevity is directly proportional to the cleanliness of the air/fuel/oil it's fed. And that diesel engines appreciate cleanliness more than their gasoline counterparts.

That said, there are automotive air filters out now with porosity in the 0.3 to 0.5 micron range. Compared to that, I think you could drive a small ship through steel wool

//greg//

 

[Diamondpilot]

Rob

How about hitting your local auto parts store or even EBAY and getting a washable reusable air filter like a K&N or a clone and adapting it to your tractor. I put them on both of my Diesel trucks and the seem to do a good job with just a wash, dry, and oil once a year.

Chris

 

[3RRL]

Well then, I'll have to rethink this thing.
Are there any materials I can wrap around the steel wool, but inside the steel grate? I want to make this filter rinsable/washable and re-usable.

 

[greg_g]

One of these perhaps? AMSOIL Ea Air Filters - Nanofiber Technology

//greg//

 

[Bob Rooks]

Rob,
It looks just like my Donaldson (on one end anyway).
For the price, you could just remove the plastic fan.
The Donaldson filters are washable, but kinda pricey.

 

[Skyco]

Gosh what if even one little bit of steel wool gets loose and scores a cylinder?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I need to say that this does not sound like a good thing to me. There is no way that the steel wool is doing the filtering job that needs to be done. Maybe see if the breather can be re-routed so that the blow by doesn't have to go through the air filter. I know that it all sounds good to do, but you may be causing other serious problems. There are other types of filters out there, but there is a reason that everybody uses paper.

 

[3RRL]

Agreed!
I've decided to stick with the paper filters and re-route the breather after the filter.
I ordered a new one from Chip and started working on the breather tube re-routing this afternoon. I'll post some photos when I'm finished with it. It will end up much like the system on Loretta's Jinma.
Thanks to all for steering me in the right direction.
Rob-

 

[tommu56]

Rob you need to make an oil bath filter it would have a pan at the bottom of the filter you put oil in and filter is like expanded metal wrapped in a spiral
We have one on our 48 Mack fire truck that is bullit proof.

here is one for sale
eBay Motors: Jeep Willys OIL Bath Air Filter CJ2A M38 CJ L134 (item 250391453963 end time Mar-24-09 11:35:44 PDT)
tom

 

[3RRL]

Tom,
That's sort of what I was intending except using steel wool and the oil vapors from the breather exhaust. What's odd is that Brad's 554 came with the oil bath filter and mine has the paper filter.
Which one is a better filtering system?

Today I finished re-routing the breather into the air intake tube.
I also re-set the filter minder and changed the paper filter with a brand new one.



The routing is not directly into the intake manifold but very close to it.
I had to make another bracket to hold the steel tube but it came out pretty good. I reduced the size of the tube just before the intake. I drilled a hole into the intake tube and welded a hose barb onto it. I ran a short length of hose from from there to connect it. When I got done, I ran the tractor for a couple hours and it ran fine.
Here are some photos of re-routed system.
Rob-

 

[LBrown59]

Gosh what if even one little bit of steel wool gets loose and scores a cylinder?

Exactly why I would not do it.

 

[greg_g]

Check your engine oil level faithfully Rob, especially when a hot engine under load has the oil thinned out. I have a feeling all that vacuum is going to suck raw oil right into the intake. The only place to go after that, is out the exhaust.

I don't have it near the desk here to confirm, but I thought there was an oil-bath air cleaner in our KAMA parts manual. If you're considering one, remember that the loader frame on that 554 had a pass-through hole to accommodate the intake runner.

//greg//

 

[3RRL]

Got it Greg and thanks for the heads up.
I do check the oil every time before working it. It's still using almost 1 quart every 50 hours, but it was doing that way before I did any of these mods. I've had this tractor going on 4 years now ... my, how time flies? I change the oil about then (50 to 100 hrs) anyway depending how heavy a work I've been doing. The necked down hole is about .200" diameter now.
Today I did about 3 hours heavy loader work and boxblade work on the homesite circle. It was 78F and the Kama temperature never got off the 78C mark. I think it'll be OK. I will keep an eye on it though.

 

[greg_g]

I sympathize with your original motivation here - that particular filter element does seem over-priced. Probably because it's imported in such small quantities. But since recommending the pre-filter as an addendum to the steel wool, I think I'm going to pursue the idea myself - to extend the life of my paper elements.

//greg//