When to replace a reusable air filter in a superduty truck?

mudfuel07 wrote:
If it's a diesel, I would throw it away and use a stock filter. On the 6.0's, the stock one is good up to about 500 hp and filters better than any aftermarket one.

I would love to see the data you have that you are basing this on.

mudfuel07 wrote:
If it's a diesel, I would throw it away and use a stock filter. On the 6.0's, the stock one is good up to about 500 hp and filters better than any aftermarket one.

/\ This... nothing beat stock paper air filter. There's a reason every agri farm piece of equipment that harvests crop in a very tight windowed time frame runs paper air filter, from John Deere to the cheap brands. There's your sign.

JIMNLIN wrote:

cannesdo wrote:
I've had mine for 8 1/2 years. At what point do you replace it? It just feels like I need to clean it more often, like it's not performing like it did in the beginning.

I installed a AFE Pro7 on my then new '03 Dodge/Cummins. The truck has 275k miles now and no issues from the filter or the Edge towing box that I added at the same time.
The AFE system dropped my EGT about 75-100 degrees towing and not towing which was what I was interested in.

I've done a oil analysis every 50k miles and so far Blackstone says all looks good.

I also used a K&N drop in on a '90 2500 chevy 350 4.10 gears. It was on the truck for 232k miles. I gave the truck to my youngest grandson when he turned 16 in 2008.
Both trucks ran gravel roads till 2009-2010 when my county finally oil and chipped roads.

IMO lots of internet myth floating around pro and con. One size don't fit all when it comes to air filtration.

That's blasphemy!
Jus read the newest duramax thread here. No way you could have that many miles without blowing the truck up using a tuner........
Lol

mowermech wrote:
I worked in the rolling stock garage at an aluminum reduction plant years ago. We tried a lot of different air filter systems to keep that fine alumina dust out of the engines; Farr Roto-pamic, Donaldson (both oil-bath and dry) (in fact, one type of vehicles had both, in series). We even tried a farm equipment add-on that spun the air, using centrifugal force to separate the dust. It worked, sort of.

Interesting you brought up the Farr. I was looking at this filter setup just out of curiosity for off-road use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6nC9hwKqrc

cannesdo wrote:
It's subtle...kind of a lower growl than usual...feels like it does when the filter needs cleaning but the filter itself doesn't look too terribly bad. I'll try it with a paper filter and see how it goes. Thanks for the input.

A dirty K&N filters much better than a clean one. Dodge/RAM dealer sold me one for my 2001.5 before they Dodge issued a "Do Not Use" statement!

Between the Stock, K&N and BHAF I could not tell any performance difference, beside the turbo noise with the BHAF (Big Honking Air Filter).

The nice thing is with this latest generation of diesel trucks you just get in and drive them along with maintaining them. No longer a need to mod them, along with it not being wise to mod them. Chris

jerseyjim wrote:
Engine air or cabin air. Replace once a year regardless. Just for a question....when was the last time you changed oil?

Well that is interesting. Why would i change my air filter annually for the hey of it If I only put 10K miles on it and the manufacturer says change it every 30? I go with the operators manual, since it has to be on the safe side for warranty. Yeah i know there are special situations and they are also covered in the ops manual concerning more frequent maintenance.

As always, I can only relate personal experience.
I once bought a 1994 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD dually. It had a K&N engine air filter installed. When I checked it right after I bought the truck, it had chassis grease around the gasket, apparently in an attempt to seal it. There was a coating of oil in the intake pipe, and when I wiped it out I discovered it was gritty. I cleaned the intake system, as best I could, installed a NAPA Gold OEM style paper filter, and never found any dirt in the intake again.
The dirt the engine had been eating didn't seem to hurt it, the truck had 276,000 miles on it when I finally decided I no longer needed a truck that big.
I am, however, quite sure that the dirt didn't do it any good!
I will not use a K&N filter, based purely on that experience.
I worked in the rolling stock garage at an aluminum reduction plant years ago. We tried a lot of different air filter systems to keep that fine alumina dust out of the engines; Farr Roto-pamic, Donaldson (both oil-bath and dry) (in fact, one type of vehicles had both, in series). We even tried a farm equipment add-on that spun the air, using centrifugal force to separate the dust. It worked, sort of.
One thing we NEVER tried was any kind of K&N or similar wet element filter. the mechanical engineer who was our superintendent would have nothing to do with them!

cannesdo wrote:
I've had mine for 8 1/2 years. At what point do you replace it? It just feels like I need to clean it more often, like it's not performing like it did in the beginning.

I installed a AFE Pro7 on my then new '03 Dodge/Cummins. The truck has 275k miles now and no issues from the filter or the Edge towing box that I added at the same time.
The AFE system dropped my EGT about 75-100 degrees towing and not towing which was what I was interested in.

I've done a oil analysis every 50k miles and so far Blackstone says all looks good.

I also used a K&N drop in on a '90 2500 chevy 350 4.10 gears. It was on the truck for 232k miles. I gave the truck to my youngest grandson when he turned 16 in 2008.
Both trucks ran gravel roads till 2009-2010 when my county finally oil and chipped roads.

IMO lots of internet myth floating around pro and con. One size don't fit all when it comes to air filtration.

Since you have a 7.3, never seen a 7.2 BTW, they are not nearly as picky as the 6.0. I had a Airaid on my 7.3 and never had an issue. Your questions would be better received on a dedicated Ford site than here. Good luck.

Most of my friends that have off-road vehicles feel that K&N has a better marketing department than engineering. I tend to agree and have seen the remnants in the intake track by using poor filters or filters that do not seal well. I know the 6.0 PSD used a Donaldson filter design, but not sure if the filter was similar in the 7.3 PSD.

BTW: My off-road toys use an oiled dual layer foam filter with prefilter outer sock and get changed/cleaned every couple of days of use in dusty environments. I use the same off-road setup on my DW's road scooter and only clean the filter annually. Where you drive verses how often sometimes makes a bigger difference in filter maintenance.