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ROUTINE AIR FILTER MAINTENANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


hurleyii

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Guys I can not stress this enough for you newbs especially!!! 

My Sovereign with a Vanguard  last fall I used for leaf vacuuming . I have 2 complete air filters and change it every mowing or major use. I have 1.5 acres. At the last 45 min or so of vacuum time I was having running issues. I appears to be sucking air in fuel based on clear hose. I purchased a new pump and left it sitting. Used same tractor all winter for blower and forgot to change filter. No run problems at all in the cold still on old pump. ( Assumed it was a chunk of *** stuck in line that finally made fuel filter. ) Yesterday first warm day run. Had same issues and getting worse. Rechecked fuel hose and no air so I started my spring maintenance. Pulled air filter and it was plugged solid and I mean 1/8 caked and packed dirt on pre filter. My run time was 4 hours last fall with that filter. Around 3 I started having issues.

CHANGE YOUR AIR FILTERS EVERY WEEK OF USE ITS NOT THAT HARD TO DO ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE AN EXTRA!!!

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I change oil, oil filter and and air filter about every 50 hours.  I remove and blow/clean the pre filters out once or twice a month  in between.

Interval on tractor without a oil filter is around 25 hours for me.

Cant say as to a oil soaked foam air filter. Never kept  or used one of those tractrors long enough to worry about it.

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I change all filters one a year.  I stopped oiling my foam pre-cleaners a couple years ago due to the dirt buildup sticking to the oil.  I blow off my machines including air filters after each use.  I have not had a problem mowing two acres every week for 20+ years.  I also run Filter Mags on all my oil filters.  @Bill725 is going to add the Filter Mags to his hydro filters as well.

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The dirt sticking to the prefilter is the whole idea. That's why I have to clean it every use. I have to change secondary cause for some off reason the filters are not the same diameter causing the one foam to be to large. The point of 2 stage filtering is to catch the large stuff on the foam and the small stuff in the paper. Even then I've found both plugged solid a couple times on my K series. That was cleaning once a year. I'm a little more OCD about my twins. 

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1 hour ago, ShaunE said:

  I stopped oiling my foam pre-cleaners a couple years ago due to the dirt buildup sticking to the oil.  

I used to oil them back when the owners manuals called for it, but quit altogether when somewhere along the way the newer owners manuals started to tell you not to oil them.

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3 hours ago, ShaunE said:

I stopped oiling my foam pre-cleaners a couple years ago due to the dirt buildup sticking to the oil.

 

2 hours ago, SmilinSam said:

somewhere along the way the newer owners manuals started to tell you not to oil them.

I don't oil mine anymore either.  

 

2 hours ago, hurleyii said:

The point of 2 stage filtering is to catch the large stuff on the foam and the small stuff in the paper.

I agree. 

BUT it seems when you oil the pre-cleaner, then it stops everything - both large and small and, as you say, becomes very restrictive.  

Without oil on the pre-cleaner, I find small grass clippings and larger dirt particles on the outside of it and the finer dirt/dust particles in the paper inner filter.  I wash the pre-cleaner with soap and water and blow out the inner filter a few times before I replace it.  

 

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19 hours ago, ShaunE said:

is going to add the Filter Mags to his hydro filters as well.

Added Filter Mags to oil filters and hydro filters on both Sovereigns and Legacy XL.

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22 hours ago, ShaunE said:

I also run Filter Mags on all my oil filters. 

 

2 hours ago, Bill725 said:

Added Filter Mags to oil filters and hydro filters on both Sovereigns and Legacy XL.

Which do you use round on end:

510hkKezi9L._AC_.jpg

Or curved on side:

71Duh1I4rDL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

 

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I use these.  There is a salesman locally that I use that is also a salesman for Schaeffer Oil which is the exclusive oil sold & my local engine machining shop.   Filter Mag recommend to use two to surround the entire filter but I only use one.  One is better than none & the salesman admitted that it was not necessary to run two.  But it certainly isn't going to hurt things.  Magnet is very strong & I have one on all my passenger vehicles as well.  

http://www.shopfiltermag.com

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Also installed magnetic drain plugs on all the BGBs, 3-speed and hydro transaxles.

Edited by Bill725
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KIMG1153.thumb.JPG.8d498d01ace1a6e9aec9a088b3020d1a.JPG

You don't really have to install the drain plugs unless you want to inspect what collects. Even then, you could find a work around. Here are two examples.

On the top you have the arm with the powerful rare earth magnet used in hard drives. Get them while they're still out there as trash because once they're gone.... It will stick to your current drain plug without fail unless pried off. Even then, if it remains in place long enough, it will magnetize the plug. I would trim off the excess steel of the arm rather than break the magnet as they're very fragile and can fracture easily. Don't ask... Use a Dremel with a wafer wheel and go slow. You want to leave a little bit of a tang so you can get it loose but it will hold tight to whatever you attach it to.

Like unto the first, the large ring magnet is one of two found in each and every microwave thrown out in the trash. They're found in the magnetron unit. You can do it the hard way or just get the $10 "Security Bit Set" (Amazingly available to everybody on the planet willing to cough up the cash... So much for "Security") with the special bit to take the skin off. You'll know it when you see it. 
Rip it apart and you get two of these magnets. Plus if you like copper with a tad of silver, dig a little deeper into it.......  There's also a nice little transformer if you save scrap for the occasional bit of pocket money.

Beyond that, if you ride a bike and hate getting stuck at the trip pads at traffic lights this is a possible answer for you. If you get a couple of these magnets (I've only used the rings) and stick them low on your frame it gives you a greater magnetic footprint and helps trigger the light. I've used two on my bikes and it worked.

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Here's where I get a real laugh, this is just a hoot!!

You guys are hilarious, all this talk about changing filters..... I'm not going to quote the manual, but the reality of the Putt Putt and the era it comes from is not going to make folks happy...

"Hey boy, go get a big tin can and a gas jug. Fill it about half full of gas so you can wash out this air filter. Then go get the used oil jug and soak it down with oil. Mind you, don't use too much, we need to wipe down the tool handles later with the rags we use cleaning up. Pour a bit of oil into the bottom so we don't have to add with the pump can later....  And throw the gas on the trash pile and burn it when you're done. And don't be stupid and light yourself on fire. boy...."

I could write a story for pages from here, as I'm sure some of the other older members could. Yeah, we drained the oil out on the ground and used gas for a lot of stuff. Played with liquid  mercury, rolled the balls around in our hands and all that. It was really cool. Grand Ma used Mercurichrome ( spelling, I was like six at the time...) ,which was tincture of Mercury, on every scrape and cut.  Oh yeah, good times. Steel cans for beer and soda, church keys to open them. No seat belts, riding around in the back of my Grand Pa's truck through town... Oh yeah, sweet memories today's youth will never have... 

Edited by thedaddycat
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3 hours ago, thedaddycat said:

"Hey boy, go get a big tin can and a gas jug. Fill it about half full of gas so you can wash out this air filter. Then go get the used oil jug and soak it down with oil.

No doubt oil bath air cleaners are the best route.  Just like sediment bulb fuel filters.  Not exactly an option for some of this newer stuff like that 7100 series you also have.  But I do like your magnet ideas as well as the trip down memory lane with the last paragraph.  Especially all the uses for gasoline all done with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth.  What I miss is pull tabs on cans.

Edited by ShaunE
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On 5/2/2021 at 12:03 PM, hurleyii said:

My run time was 4 hours last fall with that filter. Around 3 I started having issues.

I can't even begin to imagine a scenario I have ever been in, that the operating conditions could be even close to nasty enough to plug an air filter to the point of running issues, in three hours.  Not even close.  I agree that air filters are probably overlooked much more than they should be, but if I can't imagine having to change one every week or after only a few hours of run time.  At least not in the conditions I work in.  Maybe in some very, very dry and dusty environment?

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My yard has some large oak and hickory trees around it.  This time of year they drop their pollen which collects in the grass until you mow and it is stirred p by the mower.  My air cleaner will be covered with pollen after several hours of mowing at this time of year.  

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I have oaks, sand and black sandy loam,  if it hasn't rained  within 3 days mowing is brutal once it's full summer. Last fall was very dry to. All drainedge ditches where bone dry all deer season and the Kankakee I could of drove across in spots. Al least visually. Lol 

The fall is the worst. I'm not sure what is in the dirt and oak leaves but last time I used the pto vac the deck looked like it was professionally blasted. It was a total loss I left it outside for 2 winters and still virtually no rust standing up. It actually just started rusting. 

As for pollen *** you name it we got it. Currently my white blazer is yellow. 

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Your right I would of never dreamt 3 hours runtime would be choking my tractor out. I've never seen my air filters that bad. I've been here for 15 years. 

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I am still using a foam air cleaner. About every 3-4 yard cuttings at 1 1/2 hrs each, I remove it, clean with gas and compressed air. If I happen to have a can of penetrating oil handy, I might squirt some into the foam and work it all around. Then again, I usually do not during summer months, always do when mulching leaves in the fall. Those mulching situations get an air cleaner cleaning with each tank of gas. Not sure it needs it, but, why not!

Aah, memory lane! We did ride in the back of trucks, everywhere. Occasionally, I even rode the running boards on the truck! Mercurichrome was for sissies, though. You were not tough unless Merthiolate was the treatment of choice for cuts and scrapes. I did not know which was worse, the cut or the treatment. My grandson climbs in the back of the truck as often as I can arrange. His mother and my wife need to be completely absent, and somewhere that we will not likely run into them, and of course the people with flashy blue lights on their vehicles, during the excursion!

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So just an update on how dirty my filter gets and how fast. 

This is about 1.80 percent of 2 mowing adventures. That includes my neighbors 3/4 of an acre. So in total 2.25 acres to mow and I'm about to finish . 

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This is 3/4 of a mowing season, blades been sharpened 2 times. Where brand new when I purchased tractor. I was the first person to sharpen them. This is only one tractor . My Sovereign mows my yard only about 3 times and I get 2 seasons out of a set of blades.. By the end of the second season of leaf collecting they are junk.

 

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Edited by hurleyii
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1 hour ago, hurleyii said:

IMG_20210516_162133.jpg

I have added two triangular plugs to seal off the rear openings.  They prevent a lot of debris from being blown across the filter element.  Thus drawing only off the front openings.  I don't have the Kohler part # off hand.  The engine doesn't starve for air or overheat.  Mows two acres every week.

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3 hours ago, hurleyii said:

My Sovereign mows my yard only about 3 times and I get 2 seasons out of a set of blades.. By the end of the second season of leaf collecting they are junk.

Are you saying you gets 6 cuttings out of a set of blades, and they are then junk?  Do you cut 100 acres? 

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1 hour ago, Brettw said:

Are you saying you gets 6 cuttings out of a set of blades, and they are then junk?  Do you cut 100 acres? 

No the Sovereign is used mainly leaf season with the rear pto vac.

I do use it a few times in the summer but that's generally with the 48" deck. 

If I actually mowed my yard weekly during summer I get 8 weeks of blade use maybe 10. On average I mow 1.5 times a week in early spring and every 2 to 3 weeks during summer months. I mow 2.25 acres,  leaf vac season I mow 1.5 acres. My friend with a cub buys blades by the case and changes them weekly. He cuts I'd say 5 acres. Replaces his spindles once a year.

I live in Demotte Indiana. Unless you have a sprinkler system or just the right amount of sun and shade our yards are ***.  

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This is bring home day April 29 of 2019 of my first Sunstar. Before mowing and not finished mowing yet. Actual finished mowing you  couldn't identify the color. There should be the finished pic on the sight someplace. Old faithful blew up first mow of 2019 so she did have a hard day's work to catch up. Don't think I vaccumed up the leaves either in the fall. Hence getting stuck in the pile of leaves.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok guys here it is. 1 trip around about 2.75 acres. Tractor was clean and air filter was just changed.

This is one mowing not in leaf season!

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