OEM CATERPILLAR FILTERS, PLASTIC POOR QUALITY- All The Same? Filter Advice-Thoughts

The cartridge filters have been that way for a long time, if you cut open a spin on it is the same thing. I've never had an issue and like them better as they are much easier to cut open than the old perforated metal. They may seem cheap if you have never seen them before, they seem to do their job just fine.

It is hard to compare any filter to Baldwin. Our old CAT dealer in So Cal was Shepherd Machinery. They were a Baldwin warehouse distributor. As a fleet manager with 1300 vehicles, i only used Baldwin filters, bought at Shepherd Machinery.

My filter use has been all Wix with the exception of the sock type fuel filters where Baldwin has a better price. No complaints here. I do have a few old stock Cat filters but I seem to save them for some reason.

Those 'cheap' Cat filters with bonded in plastic ends are far superior to the glued on steel ends which are more prone to separate and Cat filters have pleat separators to maintain maximum paper surface area for filtering. Oil comes in at the end of the filter around the outside, through the paper and back through the inside and out one end. It does not flow in against the paper at one point as a collapsed element with no separators would suggest.
I've seen most of then cut open and compared over the last half century and the genuine Cat filter made over the last 30 years are the best. I would not risk an expensive breakdown for the sake of a couple of dollars on the price of a filter.

Think of it this way, that style you refer to is the current style, how many hundreds of thousands of them are in service? if there was an issue how much feedback would Cat get back and quickly? What is the highest turn parts at a dealership that makes them revenue? filters.

If there was an issue they wouldnt be out there...full stop.

They are fine and will do the job day in day out, use em.

When I was still working for the Cat Dealer, filters were their lowest profit margin item, and we discounted them in bulk purchases,

dunno about everyone else in Australia but I have used RYCO filters sine the begining have tried some other brands when RYCO is out of stock had a dud last time I did cant remember the brand but the thread wasnt formed right didnt realize this till it was full of oil all to late then but RYCO for me all the way

Paul

Those 'cheap' Cat filters with bonded in plastic ends are far superior to the glued on steel ends which are more prone to separate and Cat filters have pleat separators to maintain maximum paper surface area for filtering. Oil comes in at the end of the filter around the outside, through the paper and back through the inside and out one end. It does not flow in against the paper at one point as a collapsed element with no separators would suggest.
I've seen most of then cut open and compared over the last half century and the genuine Cat filter made over the last 30 years are the best. I would not risk an expensive breakdown for the sake of a couple of dollars on the price of a filter.

[QUOTE=catsilver;178808]Those 'cheap' Cat filters with bonded in plastic ends are far superior to the glued on steel ends which are more prone to separate and Cat filters have pleat separators to maintain maximum paper surface area for filtering. Oil comes in at the end of the filter around the outside, through the paper and back through the inside and out one end. It does not flow in against the paper at one point as a collapsed element with no separators would suggest.
I've seen most of then cut open and compared over the last half century and the genuine Cat filter made over the last 30 years are the best. I would not risk an expensive breakdown for the sake of a couple of dollars on the price of a filter.

Looks like Cat offers more than one filter option for the same application. They offer 4 filter cartridge filter options. They offer 2 of plastic cartridge filter they sell as there "standard" entry level "advanced filter". Then they offer the 2 types old school metal cartridge filter as their most advanced upgrade "Ultra High Efficiency" options. The upgrade look surprisingly like the metal cartridge style Baldwin, Donaldson and Wix filters. I found this very interesting. See the two Caterpillar links below. You must click the right arrows at the bottom of the page/link to see the better filter options Cat offers on the first link below.

https://parts.cat.com/en/catcorp/1R-0719


https://parts.cat.com/CompareProductsDisplayView?storeId=21801&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&compareReturnName=PDP&searchTerm=&categoryId=10013&catentryId=10089;10093;10369;10041&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fparts.cat.com%2Fen%2Fcatcorp%2F1R-0719%3FfromPage%3Dcompare