Ford oil filter position

This may seem idiosyncratic, but it has always bugged me that Ford (and some others) use a horizontally positioned oil filter mount even when they used canister type filters.
Do any of you know why they did this. Was it an economy move or is to keep the filter from being knocked by low vegetation etc?

It may not matter in the long run but I prefer to fill a new filter with oil before mounting it which is next to impossible to do with a horizontal spin-on. Even with the rubber back flow seal oil does gradually drain out of the filter when the tractor sits for at least a day and it can take what to me is an uncomfortable amount of time before the oil light goes out or the gauge responds.

I would like to convert my filter mount to a vertical one to minimize spillage and to keep the lag time to pressure the bearings to a minimum. Does anyone know any actual research on this or test reports on whether oil filter position affects bearing wear especially on engines that are not run very often.
I don't want to get into an endless discussion about it. I just want to know if anyone has any data or actual knowledge if the filter position affects crankshaft wear.

I have seen several crankshaft journals and throws that had taper on engines that had oil filters that were either horizontally mounted or vertically inverted (Farmall Super C with a C123 engine) filter. All of these engines allow the oil to drain from the filter after the engine is stopped. It is difficult for me to determine the cause of this type of wear since I did not own, maintain, or use these machines until many years after they were bought.
 
I would like the filters to be vertical for prefilling, too. While I don't have any hard data to share, I can tell you that I have
two Ford diesels (7000 and 4600) with the horizontal filters that have been on this farm since new, with over 10,000 hours, and are
still running standard main and rod bearings.
 
My Allis Chalmers tractor the oil filters are upside down. I
can't see how the filter position can have any effect on bearing
wear. Most tractors made in the 40's and 50's the oil filter was
a bypass setup and didn't work well to start with.
 
(quoted from post at 00:55:19 11/07/17) I would like the filters to be vertical for prefilling, too. While I don't have any hard data to share, I can tell you that I have
two Ford diesels (7000 and 4600) with the horizontal filters that have been on this farm since new, with over 10,000 hours, and are
still running standard main and rod bearings.
lenty running with filters open end down (still vertical)!
 
Think of how many automotive engines are the same way. If a rash of bearing failures could be attributed to the way the filer was mounted,
another company would have pointed that out as a reason why their product design is superior, long ago.

I don't think this issue is worth getting worked up over, and I'm certainly not aware of any conclusive studies on the subject. If you insist
on doing something about it, there are pre-lube systems in the aftermarket that will make you sleep easier at night. These systems are
primarily designed for standby generator sets that go to high RPM immediately upon starting.
 
Gosh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has rambling thoughts about how to make things "better"!

I can't help you with any hard data on crankshaft wear vs. filter position, but I'm willing to bet crankshaft wear is more a factor of dirty/gritty oil than filter position.

As to "Farmall Super C with a C123 engine", those engines use a "bypass filter" and the length of time it takes for the bearings to get oil at startup has NOTHING to go with whether the "bypass filter" has drained down or not, IMHO.
 
Thanks everyone especially Bob and Bern. I am not overly concerned about this other than the mess they make during an oil change. I will probably be long gone after the engines I am working on will need overhaul. Bob you are probably right about grit slowly grinding down the crankshafts. Most people aren't concerned as long as the engine lasts 7-12,00 hours. I don't want to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

Still I am curious about some things that most people don't think about so when I have not seen or heard any answers on a subject I ask. I am familiar with the prelube systems, but do not know the basis for their existence other than something to sell when someone embraces unsubstantiated dogma about causes of engine wear.

Still it would be nice to know if anyone has ever done any research on this because I would love to find an engine that just needed new rings etc and not have to replace or grind a crankshaft. Probably does not add up to a hill of beans as most have said so the subject is irrelevant unless someone has actual data.
Thanks.
.
 
I agree with you regarding the clean up required of a horizontal oil filter.

Why couldn't you mount a remote oil filter and position it vertically?
 

When I was putting new bearings in my 9000, working on it a few hours here and there over the span of maybe six weeks, it was still dripping oil on me at the end.
 

Since Ford tractors use the same filter as the Ford older cars and trucks there's a couple of options.
Ford made a adapter to turn the filter on I believe the 460 in some vans. Ford V8's position the filter at about 4:00, the adapter turned the filter pointing it forward and down, on a tractor this would point the bottom of the filter out some but I don't know how much. The adapter bolts on and has a bit of setback so not sure if it would clear the aux pump pad on the back of the block.
Second option would be a remote filter kit but on some models it's not easy to find a protected location to mount the filter base.

All that said I've worked on dozens of ford tractor engines, on the older pre 65 tractors we have had a few cranks reground.
On post 65 models we've only had two cranks ground, one on a 256 that the costumer hardly ever changed oil in, the other on a 201 that a costumer had hit a stump while brush hogging crushing the oil pan and breaking the oil pump off.
I've seen some that where so badly worn it took a .040 overbore to clean up the cylinders, a couple had to be sleeved but the crank would polish up std.

It concerns me at times how long it takes the oil light to go off, but knowing the history on how well the cranks hold up in these engines, I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel.
 
(quoted from post at 07:05:24 11/07/17) Haven't seen you in a long time.
How have you been?

Howdy UD! Has been a while since posting on any of the tractor forums. Got a Model A Roadster several years ago and sorta drifted away from tractorin.

Dusted off the 63 Rowcrop 4000 to pull stumps from trees blown over by Irma. Guess that rekindled my tractor fever.

Thanks for the shout out! Take care!!
 
My old MF2135 industrial that has the Continental 4 cylinder gas engine had just a bypass oil filter that made a mess when you changed it. I cobbled this up from some used fittings and a few new parts, but builds oil pressure pretty quick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rvrhf8Nfso

On my Ford cars, and trucks I use this https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-10795/overview/

On ones where room is very limited where the factory oil filter I use this one that goes on the block (I will probably use this on my 4500 TLB to remote mount the oil filter) https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prm-2791/overview/
 

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