donaldon pre filters
- Thread starter burl40
- Start date
cruiseroutfit
Well-known member
Same Donaldsons that ARB is using?
Interested in your snorkels? Why not plastic?
Interested in your snorkels? Why not plastic?
cruiseroutfit
Well-known member
burl40 said:
Cool, do you have any specs on the Donaldsons you can get? Any non-plastic ones :shakin:
I'm interested to see what you come up with on the snorkels, what materials are you considering? Are their issues with the plastic that have made you search elsewhere?
burl40
Supporting Sponsor
the donaldsons come in alot of sizes.The specs on the ones I am working with are the 3 inch inlet 7 outer.The 3 inch inlet 10 inch outer and a 3.75 inlet 10 inch outer for the larger snorkels on the market.As far as the plastics go I havnt seen any non-plastic snorkels offered for the landcruisers out there Also the topspin filters are available in 3 to 5 inch inlet diameters ranging from 9.5 to 11 inches around the outer.
Steel snorkels have been available in the past (in aust), they consisted of round steel pipe and angle joints.
Many were of quite agricultural construction, but have stood the test of time and are still visable on the roads.
My 60 series is not fitted with a snorkel, I have never needed one for the areas I have travelled in it. My work vehicles all have snorkels, which have all been plastic (either toyota or safari). I'd not hesitate to use either snorkel on my 60 if the need arised.
The reason for manufacturing from plastic probably has a lot to do with being easy to mass produce, however they have the added benifit of not crushing as easily to block off airflow, a steel pipe may be a pita to fix if a heavy enough branch knocked it.
Sean
Many were of quite agricultural construction, but have stood the test of time and are still visable on the roads.
My 60 series is not fitted with a snorkel, I have never needed one for the areas I have travelled in it. My work vehicles all have snorkels, which have all been plastic (either toyota or safari). I'd not hesitate to use either snorkel on my 60 if the need arised.
The reason for manufacturing from plastic probably has a lot to do with being easy to mass produce, however they have the added benifit of not crushing as easily to block off airflow, a steel pipe may be a pita to fix if a heavy enough branch knocked it.
Sean
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
Scotty, interested in a Donaldson. Are you putting an order together?
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
Thanks for the pics, looks great. Is there a lot of play when driving with the rubber gasket?
TeriAnn
Explorer
burl40 said:
Prefilters have a minimum air flow below which they do not do their job and a maximum airflow above which the prefilter restricts air flow to the engine. If you are thinking of a prefilter you need to calculate your engine's airfow between idle and your highest normal driving speed and pick a prefilter (and a filter) based upon your engine's actual requirements.
Fit too big a prefilter and it does not work properly at low RPM on the trail.
I choose the plastic top spin prefilter over the Donaldson glass prefilter. Break the glass and you are SOL. Break the plastic top and a little plastic cement or a quick wind of duct tape and the prefilter is back doing its filter thing. Also the Donaldson glass bowl filter collects the dust it separates requiring you to dump the bowl & clean things out periodically. The plastic top spin design is self cleaning.
Those 10 inch prefilters some folks are looking at work between 200 and 450 CFM. My 302 V8 needs to be rev'ing over 3000 RPM to reach the minimum flow to get the prefilter to work properly. The 6 inch Donaldson top spin prefilter works between 90 and 200 CFM. It covers most of my V8's actual working RPM. Its a little restrictive during acceleration but hard at work in my cruise RPMs. I'm willing to sacrifice a little acceleration speed for longer filter element life on dusty trails.
I use a Donaldson horizontal canister filter mounted to the underside of my right wing. When I set up my filter system I decided to get rid of my long Mantec snorkel and corrugated rubber hoses with lots of bends to force the air through. Since I was already sacrificing my acceleration speed a little I thought I would minimize the restrictions to air flow along the way from the prefilter to the throttle body. A short snorkel that is a straight shot into the air cleaner and a straight shot from the air cleaner to the throttle body were important design considerations for me. So my snorkel is only about 6 inches long from prefilter to filter inlet.
A closeup of my mini-snorkel. The tube raising out through the wing top is the air filter inlet.
You can see the bottom of the Donaldson canister filter at the top of the wheel arch. There is just enough space at the front to replace the filter element in place. The outlet of the filter is almost a straight shot to the throttle body inlet. The front axles hit their bump stop well before the 33.3 inch dia tyres would reach the underside of the air filter.
A short snorkel was my choice for air flow, driver visibility and clean air. It has been my observation that most of the air kicked up by a vehicle stays below the wing tops. When following another vehicle there doesn't seem to be a whole lot off difference in the dust level between the base of a windscreen and the top of the windscreen. My distributor would be underwater long before the prefilter inlet would be. Besides I'm entertained watching the prefilter's whirly whily things whirl around. Simple entertainment for sample minds
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Grim Reaper
Expedition Leader
TeriAnn you never fail to amaze me with the info you have.
I talked to a local dealer that sold Donaldsons and his concern was exactly what TeriAnn pointed out. He felt that most Gas motors would not move enough air to make them work properly...especially my little 4cyl Toyota.
I talked to a local dealer that sold Donaldsons and his concern was exactly what TeriAnn pointed out. He felt that most Gas motors would not move enough air to make them work properly...especially my little 4cyl Toyota.
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
Well stated TeriAnn, thanks for the input!
SOAZ
Tim and Kelsey get lost..
TeriAnn,
Nice to see one mounted up. When driving in the desert for several days I end up needing to change my air filter at least every 5 or 6 days if I want to be kind to my engine. I also wouldn't mind getting the intake a few inches higher for water fording.
After doing lots of research on the best precleaner I decided on the same one as you. I did a search on good ol expo and was so glad to see someone else using one of the Topspin precleaners.
I just got mine.
For other folks looking to figure out their CFM's check this link out:
http://www.centriprecleaner.com/themes/centriprecleaner/cfm-calculator.htm
I first had to calculate the cubic inches from liters which Google did for me nicely. I then inputted the volume efficiency based on this little chart.
4 CYCLE ENGINES
C.F.M. = C.I.D. x R.P.M. x Vol. ******.
3456
VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY:
Diesel Naturally Aspirated = .85
Turbocharged = 1.60
Turbocharged - Aftercooled = 1.85
Gasoline up to 2500 r.p.m. = .80
2500 to 3000 r.p.m. = .75
3000 to 4000 r.p.m. = .70
Then I put in the normal cruising offroad RPM's and the max RPM's I usually see when accelerating. That showed me which filter I needed and bam bob's yer uncle.
BTW, I found them on Ebay for a price that appeared to be 30% or more less than some of the tractor sites. When I get around to mounting it I'll post some pics.
