Now that I seem to have things sorted out on the grader I'm looking into doing a full service. Baldwin lists a full flow as well as a dual flow oil filter. There's only 1 filter so which is the better choice?
Anything but Baldwin filters.
What's wrong with Baldwin filters? Many people swear by them.
A lot more swear at them. A machine I had liked Donaldson filters. Was working away from home and couldn't get them so fitted Baldwin hydraulic filters, oil temperature went through the roof and pumps made noises that they shouldn't have. I shut the machine down, spent 5hrs on the road and got Donaldson filters and fitted them which fixed all the problems. Only to my very worst enemy would I recommend Baldwin filters.
Baldwin has always been good and this is the first time I've heard something bad about them, the only other times is when someone recommended OEM. They will be fine I've always used dual flow I've never heard of the full flow version
Were the Baldwin a direct cross to the Donaldson or just what was a available that was similar? Perhaps a lower micron rating restricting flow? I've noticed Baldwin has a lot of very similar filters with the same thread and physical size. I don't know if filters have flow ratings.
Yes they were the Baldwin equivalent of Donaldson and yes filters do have flow ratings. On paper everything matched but reality was a different story.
Generally speaking, full flow oil filters traps particles from 25 to 40 micron with no by-pass. By-pass filters trap smaller particles, but that makes them more restrictive to flow so a by-pass feature is included to allow some of the oil to flow around (by-pass) the filter media, which means not all of the oil is being filtered, but enough to continuously trap small particles. Dual flow filters combine features of full flow and by-pass in one filter unit. Your choice.
If more people swore at the red filter than swore by them---they wouldn't be in business.
@Nige what say you?
Nige will down grade the red filter-- that's his favorite to nail. But a proper plan of Baldwin filters and zero sampling works well too., If it was a motorcycle thread the crap would fly about all the do's and don'ts for three weeks.
I'd rather hear from those who have had direct experience with Baldwin over a period of time rather than those who form an opinion without having much experience at all with them. Any brand filter can have a lemon. I had a Cat spin on fuel filter develop a pin hole and spray diesel all over the engine and exhaust manifold on my track loader.
Thanks for that. I noticed the extended life filter was a dual flow. There's also severe service filters but I don't need that.
Ive run max, wix, baldwin, ryco but always prefer OEM. Never had a problem with any. I do remember hearing that there is only a few filter manufacturers and most come out of the same factory in mexico.
HAD to use Baldwin on the old Allis Loader, only place that had direct product reference, did NOT like them at all but no choice. Used Fleetguard for years with little issue then something changed or they changed suppliers and went to crap, same with WIX a number of years back yet the both seem to be rebounding. Use CAT on the KW, use FOMOCO for the old 7.3, could care less on the car or Exploder as those get done by a local shop and they have to stand behind the damage if occurs due to a crap filter or oil. Farm Tractor gets Carquest(Wix) filters and satisfied as to what are now supplying. The Allis farm tractor did not do well with either Baldwin or Fram filters(Got those as a last resort ONCE). Used a Baldwin on the 7.3 ONE Time thinking would save money as was changing oil every 5k and driving it A LOT, pressure was Lower, did not perform as well so at 2k of that in use swapped back to a Ford Filter and all returned to normal.
To really know how a filter performs you would have to run that equipment for a very long time and you would have to cut the filter and see after and test oil. Using a brand for 50k miles/2000 hrs and then selling the equipment probably won't show much. If I'm not buying OEM I buy Baldwin.
We buy OEM for all of our yellow equipment and pickups, Donaldson for our off color equipment. L9000 had a plugged Donaldson fuel filter Thursday and Fleetpride only had Baldwin. I was not going to drive 20 mins to the Cat dealer to get a Donaldson so Baldwin it was. First time I've bought a red filter in a long time.
For a lot of my old stuff, i use Baldwin. Never had any problems. In my opinion they have the best cross-reference catalogue in the industry for hard-to-find filters
Lets see--I went to work for my old employer in 2003. In that amount of time the company has gone through 260 plus tractors and over 325 trailers. We had all power plants Cat, Detroit & Cummins, only two engines ever had major issues. One N14 that had a defective oil pump covered under warranty & a DD15 that broke a crank covered under warranty. I used Baldwins on all of it, mostly who could give a fleet discount on filters. Never oil sampled never had a engine failure from oil or filters. Services were done on a set time/mileage & done on time. * I bought by the cases and cases.
There is a Wix plant near where I live in Statesville. There is also a place even closer that makes packaging labels. I was there one night talking to a guy I know and they were running Caterpillar filter label material, they normally supply our massive Tyson Chicken plant with labeled shrink wrap. So I asked about it and he said those labels were going down to Wix. He said they make Deere, Cat, Kubota, New Holland, and so on labeling, to be sent down to the Wix plant. As well as many other types such as auto manufacturers and Kawasaki small engine and hydraulic filters. They run a thin film with an image and somehow Wix runs that film through a heating process with their packaging and the image transfers over to the packaging somehow. Wix makes many oem filters.
Mann-Hummel also makes OEM filters. I just bought oil and fuel filters from the dealer for our Volvo and Mack trucks. All of them were Volvo/Mack branded and said Mann-Hummel in fine print.
Yea I doubt any manufacturers make their own filters. I just rebuilt an older Cat pump on a dozer and there was only one piece I couldn't find aftermarket and it was a seal. So I checked Carolina Cat and they had it in Peoria. Parts girl said that is was probably one that they made themselves. She said most were just generics they bought and had packaged in bulk. I also had a Cat D6M that ran the same fuel filter as my 648G2, 648L2, and 437e John Deere skidders and loader. And on my T800s with C15s the KW filters say Denso in the fine print, or they used to. I haven't bought one inn several years. I stick to the ones labeled Cat or Wix. Not sure if I trust Denso anymore.
Run a wix oil filter in a 6.0 Powerstroke and your chances of having a no start goes up incredibly high. When they still sold Hastings the same filters down the line got painted white or red.
I have used Baldwin filters for years, not the volume that Truck Shop used, but have used them for trucks with Cummins, Cat and Detroit engines and also in construction equipment. I have had good uck with Baldwin. FWD
They did a service on my Mauldin grader this spring. Went through 2 Napa hydraulic filters, and they would leak. Started to think it was the filter housing, they put a Baldwin on and no more leak.
Apparently Baldwin also makes some filters for Cat. There is a video I think from Aus. that shows Cat and identical Baldwin filters but the Baldwin are 20% less expensive. You can tell the Cat are made by Baldwin because only Baldwin stamps lot and batch numbers on their filters. Also came across where someone said it's kept under wraps but Baldwin makes filters for many other brands. It's hard to know what's accurate and what isn't but it's certainly plausable Baldwin makes filters for other brands. Even read where Wix and Baldwin sometimes make filters for each other. Maybe because of specific patents.
The idiot that changed the hyd. filter, when the 1st wheel motor was replaced, didn't tighten the filter enough and it ended up pumping 90% of the oil out in about 30 minutes running it. It happened suddenly just after I stopped to pick up rocks or something. I got back in and went 10' then couldn't move. Looked out the back and saw oil so shut it down. The idiot also didn't tighten the drive chain. It was an OEM filter made by Donaldson. What was interesting is the rubber o-ring didn't seem thick enough. I tightened the filter and the metal filter base was pretty much up against the metal of the filter housing. I put a Baldwin filter on and it had a thicker o-ring. Baldwin was much easier to find locally. I'm thinking the Napa filters had the same problem with the o-ring being too thin. I've never had an issue with Baldwin but would like to hear of issues with them.
2nd that on the oring. A Donaldson hydraulic filter on my Case 580 goes right up to the housing and bottoms out on the filter casing. A Baldwin just snugs up tight and uses the oring to seal. All the filter kits come with Donaldson hydraulic filters but I usually just order a Baldwin separately.