The Home Machinist!

All,

I have an older RR Supply SD35 with an 8 HP Kohler power plant. The power plant has a remote oil filter and cooler on the system. I am in need to do an oil change on the locomotive and I would like to replace the filter as well. Does anyone know where to get a replacement filter? Being an Ex-piston head in a former life, I suspect the remote filter housing is probably designed for an automotive application. The filter size and appearance looks to be a standard small block Chevy but I wondered if anyone else knew for sure. I have not removed it or attempted to clean the paint off to see if it has a part number I can cross reference. Any assistance would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Doug

Caribou Doug wrote: ↑Sun Oct 14, 2018 3:15 pm All,

I have an older RR Supply SD35 with an 8 HP Kohler power plant. The power plant has a remote oil filter and cooler on the system. I am in need to do an oil change on the locomotive and I would like to replace the filter as well. Does anyone know where to get a replacement filter? Being an Ex-piston head in a former life, I suspect the remote filter housing is probably designed for an automotive application. The filter size and appearance looks to be a standard small block Chevy but I wondered if anyone else knew for sure. I have not removed it or attempted to clean the paint off to see if it has a part number I can cross reference. Any assistance would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Doug

Any photos you could post?

Hard to know if the filters have changed over the years. But a quick search on google shows several Koehler and apparently after market oil filters available for 8 HP Koehler motors. These all seem to be around 3” OD with an oil ring diameter of 2 13/16”.

You might pull your existing filter and measure the rubber ring, then match to what ever is on the market these days.

Glenn

I do believe that filter is for the hydrostatic system not the Kohler the Kohler does not have an oil pump in it to pump oil

^^^ I believe Erie is correct, the 8hp Kohler was splash lubricated.
What I like doing with these especially if the oil is dirty, is add some marvel mystery oil, run the engine until it warms up, then drain it. The MMO seems to do a good job at cleaning the engine inside and then most of the yuck drains out with the oil.
Then fill with some good high zinc content oil like motorcycle or boat oil(car oils don't have enough, if any zinc anymore and may lead to short life in these splash lubed flat tappet engines). These engines are steel on cast aluminum bearing parts, and will greatly benefit from a high zinc content oil. Look for "meets or exceeds API *SG*" on the bottle. I run Maxima's petroleum blend motorcycle oil in pretty much everything I own, and it's maybe $2 a quart more than your standard car oil. You'll find if you read the fine print, many motorcycle and equipment manufacturers REQUIRE this "SG" oil or will not honor any warranty, just for you that say I should remove my tin foil hat.
Granted they were used on go karts not backyard trains, but I have a handful of blown engines like these from running Mobil-1 and Castrol GTX full synthetic oils, they lacked zinc and just didn't protect the engines at all.

Glenn, Erie and rkcarguy,
Thanks for the responses and information. Erie you were correct in that the filter is for the hydrostatic drive and I was able to locate the proper filter. As it turns out, I spoke with the good folks from RR Supply and as usual, they were extremely helpful and willing to discuss not only the maintenance needs but helpful with all my other questions. I did manage to get the maintenance done and all the fluids and filters changed. Hopefully with any luck I can get the old girl back to the rails this weekend for our Halloween run. Again thanks for the input and hats off to the guys at RR Supply for being willing to support their products!!!

Best,

Doug