maintenance | by Tom Jackson
TJackson@randallreilly.com
DUST CONTROL
Knowing how your air filters work and
when and how to change them can prevent
a big repair bill down the road.
D
iesel engines have a
reputation as being
bulletproof. Today's
models are no less durable than before, but
due to changes in exhaust emissions technology, they also require
extremely clean fuel and air to
function properly. Fail to provide
either and you could be looking at
expensive repair bills.
With summer upon us, hot and
dusty conditions prevail on many
earthmoving jobsites. This demands
close vigilance when it comes to
airborne dust on the jobsite, but
also maintaining a best-practices
regime when it comes to your
equipment's air filtration. If the
water truck breaks down or fails to
show, your machines may be facing a huge increase in the amount
of dust they must filter out of the
intake air.
Dust contains silica, which if it
gets into your engine, acts like a
lapping compound. It is highly
abrasive and when stirred into your
lube oil, blown turbochargers or a
dusted engine are likely results.
New engines, new demands
Many of today's Tier 4 Interim and
Tier 4 Final engines turbocharge
high volumes of air to help with
emissions control. Today's turbochargers are precision components,
says Dustin Croft, aftermarket sales
manager, John Deere Construction and Forestry. "When you're
turning 20,000 rpms and all those
tolerances are tight, if you have
contaminated oil passing through, it
can affect your turbo life. Keeping
incoming air clean helps on both
ends," he says.
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