Donaldson Pre Cleaners

[ignat]

As I plan on doing some mileage in Morocco & Sahara and ALOT of mileage in Namibia/Bots in the near future....
I thought I'd get one of these pre-filters:

I notice Devon4x4 do some at +- £45.

Found a place (Sterling Filtration) that do these for closer to £22.

They also do the Top Spin filters

 

[fridayman]

Does this just bolt onto the top of the snorkel?

 

[Lorin]

I have been looking into getting one of these (TopSpin units) for quite a while. One thing that has come to light from chatting to people who have had them fitted is the importance of getting the correct unit in terms of CFM. If too small/low then you would get restricted airflow at higher rpm/speeds which effectively starves the engine and results in a loss of power.

The TopSpin units come in 90-200 CFM, 200-450 CFM, or 450-750 CFM

I cannot find any info on the CFM of the 1HD-T However, using an online CFM calculator http://www.lovehorsepower.com/CFM1.htm (though taking into account my technical non-proficiency) it appears that a 200-450 CFM is the right size for the 1HD-T (assuming a VE of 80% and a max of 12psi at 3600rpm). I actually think the 1HD-T is more like 10psi max but it still indicates a 200-450 CFM rated pre-cleaner.

One thing I don’t know though, is whether a 200-450 CFM cleaner is still effective at lower RPMs when the engine CFM drops below 200...? This could be an issue when driving slowly (i.e., low RPM) in dusty conditions.

 

[chriscolleman]

The donaldson pre-cleaners are great for dusty applications. The UN troopies have the same style, can't say if they are donaldson made though.

 

[Justin_Elliott]

I have a Donaldson 'H00-0820' for my '93 HDJ80....
It's rated as 9.1m^3/min (circa 320 cfm)(See specifications here)

You can hear when its fitted to the engine (slight sucking noise on hard acceleration) but didn't notice any change in performance/fuel consumption.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Another thing I noticed is that they (the TopSpin) comes in different fitting sizes - so I think I needed a 55mm diameter filter, and they didn't have them (then ...)

Just my 2c worth ...

 

[Scott]

I too have a donaldson pre cleaner, that I fit to my safari snorkel with a rubber adapter ring, both were sourced from OEC.

You can hear when its fitted to the engine (slight sucking noise on hard acceleration) but didn't notice any change in performance/fuel consumption.

As Justin said you can hear when its fitted. I swapped mine over with the standard snorkel top when I entered Morocco and then changed it back when I exited. I did this so that the pre cleaner didn't hamper my fuel consumption on the drive through Europe.

I can say that the pre cleaner certainly did its job, and it was handy being able to see the matter building up in the bowl. As well as a far bit of sand it also collected a number of bugs, and was simple to empty and re fit. It definitely extended the life of the air filter in the sandy, dusty conditions. The girl friend didn't like it though, she said it looked like a light bulb and looked silly! I told her that not everything that is functional, is pretty and its staying.

As Lorin said, make sure you get the correct one for your engine, I don't know the part number for mine off the top of my head, but it is a fairly large one. I've seen some tiny ones fitted to vehicles which I'm sure are strangling the engines.

Cheers,

Scott.