I have a 65 1 ton dually, flatbed, 352 engine. Question I have is would it be wise to trade out the oil bath air cleaner for a paper filter or leave as is? This is my ranch truck dirt roads, sage brush, pulls trailers etc...

 

Concensus is that, while messy, the oil bath does the best job of filtering. I'd leave it on. Most construction equipment use some type of oil soaked filter as well for high dust conditions. May not be sexy, but it's effective.

 

One vote of dissention here. The local wisdom amoung mechanics here in the Dust Bowl is that the departure from oil breathers and advent of paper cleaners greatly improved the life of engines. The oil breathers can develope a void in the matting, which you cannot see. In that void, the air flows unimpeeded and with little contact to the oil. Because the void has less resistence, more air tends to flow there.

If you are a purist, maintain careful maintainence, and don't drive in harsh or dusty conditions, then I think you can chance the oil breather.

I know this is not the consensus of the users of this board, but it is the consensus of a lot of folks that I am aquainted with offline.

Just my thoughts, no desire to irritate or spark controversy. I bet there is some car company study that actually scientifically answered this question, but who knows where it is.

later...