Your friend's intent to save, will probably cost him 10x in the long run.

He spends how much?... $2000 on a lawn tractor I presume?... and then spends $10-$15 on oil every 25 hours instead of every 50.... but then he goes to save $10 on a filter? Cheaper replacement?... how much cheaper does he want to go?... from $10 to $7???

The filter has a bypass... once it's plugged, he'll be circulating dirt and carbon dust around the engine.... wish him good luck, and make sure to tell him not to b!itch when his engine dies prematurely.

I don't know how your friend developed his misguided philosophy in regard to not changing the oil filter. He must not really understand just how much "garbage" an engine can produce that needs to be trapped. The stuff that the oil filter catches is mostly made inside the engine as it operates. There are the microscopic (and not so microscopic) metal particles that shed from the moving parts, solid particles of carbon that are shaken loose in the combustion chamber that enter the crankcase in the blowby gases during cold start and warm up. If your friend believes he is getting rid of all that stuff and more by throwing it out with the old oil, he is sadly mistaken. Because the engine has an oil filter, all of the particulate matter the engine makes is trapped and removed almost as soon as it appears in the oil. The only things your friend is removing with the oil are the carbon molecules (that cause it to be black) and the acids left over from combustion moisture that enters the crankcase in blowby gases (mainly during cold start and warm up). You need to sit your friend down in front of the computer and let him read some threads on this forum (he can read, can't he?) As wally stated, when the filter gets full of trapped material and the bypass valve opens, all the stuff that was caught by the filter will be pumped into the critical parts of the engine (the parts that the filter protects if you change your filter like you should). The damage to the engine caused by filter media bypass ranges from greatly accelerated wear all the way up to sudden catastrophic failure in the event that the freed material is substantial enough to plug the oil galley (or a branch of the galley). It's almost as if the engine has a built-in means of punishing the owner for not providing the care he is supposed to. Your friend needs to re-think everything that has led him to this corrupt philosophy about oil filter changes.

I take it his oil filter changing habits (or lack there of) is why he has a new Cub Cadet? We all have different comfort levels for risk, but I would say this man is stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny.

Years ago, some outfit was offering a 'lifetime' oil filter......one of those type of devices you could find in the back pages of "Popular Mechanics". The reusable shell was metal, and at oil change time, one would open the filter, and replace the filter 'element' with a new roll of toilet paper (the element). For extra engine protection, one could use the premium multi-ply 'quilted' products. Perhaps your friend could be persuaded to change his filter regularly if he could find one of these devices. ;~)

t

Those "Life time", toilet paper filters are "Partial flow" filters. They DID NOT replace the OEM "Full flow" filter. Even with one of the TP filters installed, you still had to replace the OEM oil filter regularly. In those days, filter media technology was in it's infancy. Remember,(well...if you don't remember, take my word on it) engines didn't even have oil filters at one time, and you routinely replaced engine bearings often. You were fortunate if you got 25,000 miles total life out of an engine. Even if you did, you probably had already gone through a few sets of "poured Babbitt bearings". Then came the intro of the "Partial flow oil filter" This filter was fed from the oil galley through a restriction orifice and the oil was returned from the filter to the crankcase. The oil that was fed to the oil galley by the engine oil pump still reached the crank and rod journals etc. as unfiltered oil. Then came the "Full flow" filter concept. In this system, every drop of oil that reaches the oil galley and points beyond, was flowed through the oil filter for cleaning. This is what we still have today. The filtering and filter making was a big trade-off in those early years. The media had to trap enough stuff to increase engine life, but you didn't want to try catching really small things because the media that could do that would be too restrictive to the flow of oil resulting in lowered oil pressure, which would mean death for the engine. To have a filter able to catch the really tiny particles and still provide oil pressure would require a filter so large the engine would probably sustain damage before the fiter could be purged of air after installing. So the early full flow filters didn't catch the smallest stuff, by design. This left a gap in the filtering process that was addressed by the "add on, partial flow filter" entrepreneurs. Back in them days you could gain a benefit from adding one of these filters to your engine lube oil system. The way these filters worked was you would feed oil to them by either removing a plug from a hole in the engine's oil galley and installing an adapter fitting in the hole to attach the oil line from the filter to the engine, or you would "Tee into" an existing external oil line. The oil inlet to the filter used a restricting orifice of about .030" so as not to reduce engine oil galley pressure. After the oil passed through the roll of TP, it was returned to the crankcase sump by installing a return hose fitting into the engine valve cover or oil filler tube. Some of the kits were "model specific" enough that a replacement oil filler cap having the return hose nipple already in place was in the kit. This was an el cheapo copy of the famous "Luberfiner 750" Partial flow, by-pass filter used on so many heavy diesel engines of years ago. I don't really see a benefit to using this type of filter anymore. To me it is more of a "gimmick" than anything. The OEM filter (or comparable AM filter) does everything the engine needs. As long as you change it when you should, it will protect the engine parts from harmful particulate matter.

Uh, I really didn't expect anyone to take the suggestion of a lifetime TP filter seriously. I think these gimmicks are hilarious. Thank you mownie for the detailed background on these things. I had no idea!

I think I'll fab up a new and improved, high capacity, high-tech version of the lifetime TP filter. Instead of 50 hr. change intervals, it will be good for 5 ys. or 250 hrs., whichever comes first. It will use rolls of Bounty paper towels. I'm sure it will fill a market niche somewhere! ;~)

t

The manual for my 2004 Craftsman GT5000 with 26hp Briggs ELS engine recommends oil changes every 25 hours and oil filter changes every 50 hours. Is this what your friend is suggesting or does he figure he never needs to change the oil filter? Personally, I can get Napa gold filters for a few bucks and figure it's a worthy investment to keep that engine running longer.

Theo, let me know as soon as you get ready to sell some stock. I want to invest early. Yes, I get a kick out of some of the "Rube Goldberg" schemes and ideas some slick willies can come up with for filtering your money into their pockets. The TP filters were a serious attempt to improve the filtering of lube oil, but I wonder if the TP soon became so restrictive that it too would impede the flow of oil through itself. Toilet paper is, after all, designed to dissolve when wet with water......and water is a by-product of combustion that gets into the oil through blowby. Hmmmm.

There are a lot of low cost alternatives to the Kohler filter.
"Briggs/Kohler type" 3/4" X 16 threads 8-11 PSI Bypass
Gasket 2.734"OD 2.430"ID 0.226" thick
Length" Wix Purolator Hastings Kohler B&S Baldwin MotorCraft AC
2.3" 57035 NA LF503 2805001 492932 B7165 NA NA?
2.7" 51056 L35310 LF302 1205001 492056 B1410 NA PF2210
3.4" 51348 L10241 LF157 5205002 491056 BT223 FL793 PF53
4.8" 51516 L20195 LF134 NA NA B243 FL400A PFL400A

I agree with Bill (don't laugh Bill!), get a dang car filter for 3 or 4 bucks and atleast change it once a year. I change my at the beganinng of the season and in aug. with a couple of oil changes between. Especially during the HOT months. But, I'm a oil changing nerd!.

Yea I was wondering about car filters too. You can find ones almost the same size as the tractor filters. They are at least 50% cheaper then the tractor filters. So whats the difference?

Bill

Go down to NAPA and buy the 3.4" long filter for your BRIGGS or KOHLER.
Then buy the filter for your YUGO, various Toyota's, Chevy's etc.
Then compare the 1348 vs the 1348.

I usually change my oil and filter once a season.I would probably go every other season but i plow in the winter.I was just wondering why garden tractor engines lasted so long back before they were fitted with filters and coolers?

Because they weren't trying to cut every corner to save a nickel.

with bill kapauns alternative list of filters, it would be foolish not to change the oil filter w/each oil change, even at 25 hours. wonder if the old boy puts his dirty undershorts back on after taking a shower? anyways, in the long run, it isnt cost effective not to change the filter.

My '07 Toyota Corolla and my Briggs 14 hp Vanguard use the same filters. I just buy several when I buy them and use them on both. (NAPA filters)

I remember when most filters consisted of a permanent cup that you had to take the top off of to replace the filter. Never saw anyone use toilet paper in them though. I remember when toilet paper came in sheets glued together like a book. Sears & Roebuck printed pictures of their goods on them and gave them away for free.

Some years ago,i bought ,as I recall a 1989 JD 185,and it had an engine oil filter on the KAWA engine.The manual said,"change the oil at 25 hours,and the filter at 50 hours.Huh,and still have a filter full of dirty oil every other oil change.Called the JD company.,and asked,"how come this silly arrangement???" The Answer was and,No joke.-- I was told,"a dirty oil filter cleans better because the openings in the filtering material become smaller."HELLO!!!!So,in that case,if I only changed my oil filter at every forth or fifth 25 hour oil change,than my dirty oil would progressively become cleaner".He said,I will get back with you on that one.About 14 years ago,and I am still waiting for the answer. Between that phone call and that @^($@&%(#@ 185,never again any L&G green on may property.

"and still have a filter full of dirty oil every other oil"

Just how "dirty" is that oil, assuming the filter is doing it's job?

"Just how "dirty" is that oil, assuming the filter is doing it's job?"

It's just as dirty as the oil in the sump. Actually worse since it's on the dirty side of the filter.

How can it be "worse since it's on the dirty side of the filter."? It isn't going to flow "backward" out of the filter. It will continue to flow in the direction it is supposed to flow and won't backwash anything it has caught. The problem I have with extending the filter change cycle is that a full flow oil filter with a by-pass valve will unseat the by-pass valve and flow unfiltered oil through the oil galleys if the filter media catches a capacity load of particulates. The principle philosophy behind that is "Dirty oil is better than no oil!" How about just change the filter when you change the oil and don't try to guess or estimate how much more junk the filter can trap before it starts by-passing dirty oil? That sure makes me feel better, kinda like the old adage, "Better to err on the side of caution."

Well, the dirty side of the filter is where the dirt is. It won't end up in the engine provided the anti-drainback valve in the filter continues to work. And as long as the filter stays out of bypass if the bypass valve is located where the bypass flow is across the dirty side of the media.

Keeping an old filter is just a silly way to save $$

Continuing to use an old filter is no way to SAVE $ at all. It is sort of like playing Russian Roulette with your engine. Put one round in an' give it a spin. Point it at your engine and pull the trigger. You might be lucky. Why chance it?

Which really isn't that "dirty", since it's only had one pass through the engine since it was previously filtered.
If you had that much wear metal in your oil, the engine would never last long enough to need an oil change.
Look how long engines have lasted with NO oil filter!

While the oil on the dirty side of the filter may have had only one pass through the engine after being filtered, that side of the filter contains the all of the contamination that's accumulated since it was installed. Every cut a filter apart after use? It's not filled with once filtered oil.

So whenever there's bypass flow through the filter there's a chance that some of that accumulated crap will be washed back through the engine. Not a great thing IMO.

As far as how long those old slinger lubed no oil filter engines last, I've heard that myth more times than I can count. But the truth is if you got a few hundred hours out of one before it needed internal work it was a miracle. Even less with hard use.

Then again, some people define "not worn out" as "Still starts with much effort, is down on power, uses lots of makeup oil and fuel, but it hasn't thrown a rod yet."

And some of us define "not worn out" differently...

The oil filter DOES NOT by-pass anything UNTIL it has trapped it's capacity of particulates. Until it has reached it's capacity, every drop of oil that enters the filter gets filtered. Only when the filter has reached it's capacity will there be enough resistance to flow that the filter media can no longer move the volume of oil through it will the bypass valve unseat and begin to route unfiltered oil, by-passing the filtering media.

"The oil filter DOES NOT by-pass anything UNTIL it has trapped it's capacity of particulates."
Well, not exactly, although that is the intent.
If the oil is overly thick, such as 30 weight oil near freezing temperatures, the filter will often bypass. This is quite common. Another reason to avoid the "thicker is better" mentality that often seems to pervade the small engine forums.