Paper or cloth, you can dust an engine with either one. I've seen truck engines go bad over night when the rig was run over the dirt roads in northern Newfoundland & Labrador...These where trucks with large dual filters...The key is this - if the filter is plugged the engine willl still pull hard and get the air it needs....Thus sucking the dirt in every little crack and seam that it can. A clean filter wether it be cloth or paper is the key and a good seal at any joint is a must.
I know that's right. I spent a handful of years pushing my Kenworth with a 1693TA Cat up in the great white north on those kind of roads on the other side of the continent and you have to watch the restriction gauge like a hawk and keep after those joints cause things rattle loose. I don't know if they even do this anymore ( I've searched the net and only places I've found that still do it are in Australia ),but back then I used to keep two air filters and when one got dirty, I'd drop it of at a filter washer and they had this nifty machine that would slowly wash out the big truck paper air filters and dry them out, then they'd run an inspection on them and if all was still good, they'd put a new seal on it, and I'd pick it up next time through . About half the cost of a new one. Could usually get about 2-4 cleanings out of one .
Then you see the guys who never pay any attention to the things....I bet you see them a lot
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