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Put a post up above this one too but the link for baldwin filters is below this one as well. 99% of the filters I use are Baldwin because I have come to respect their quality and performance. The other 1% is Donaldson which also makes very high quality products. I saw many a post asking about buying a "cheap or inexpensive filter and or oil". My first question is WHY? Why would you want to buy "cheap" oil and or filters when the oil and filter is actually what keeps the engine, machine, ect running? Not the "heart" of the device but it's what keeps the heart going. Like a person, eating greasy fried food covered in salt each and every day, your heart is going to give out sooner than if you eat a well balanced diet. The same goes for equipment. Feeding it crappy oil and not filtering it to keep it clean is going to bring the end to the heart. I've seen people willing dump 95,000 bucks on a semi-truck tractor then complain about spending a measly 100 bucks for a good air filter or 10 bucks for a good oil filter or 35 bucks for good oil. Their reasoning on this is beyond me. The same goes all around no matter what the product or cost of it. I see people spending $25,000 on a pick-up truck then buy the $2.50 oil filters and $.89 quarts of oil for it and expect it to last. Then, when the engine takes a dump, they complain about the repair costs or how it was junk and did not hold up. Same goes for hydraulic systems. Most of you with hydraulic powered equipment know full well that moisture and dirt in one of these means the end comes quickly and the repair costs are very high. Hydraulic oil too wears out and becomes contaminated over time. Most all application suggest changing it completely once a year yet how many people will not change it in the name of "saving money"? If you really want to save money, make what you have last as long as possible by using good quality products to start with. To me, I will gladly toss $19 away for top quality oil and a filter as opposed tossing the engine for $3500. The air filter is just as important as the oil filter. Dirt coming into the cylinders and such by way of the air intake is just as damaging as that coming in by way of the oil passages, same with the fuel system. It's up to you what you do with your stuff but mine is well protected. You'll never see me blowing out an air filter, I'll put a new one on every time before taking a chance on loosing an engine to save 8 bucks. I work for myself. I loose an engine or piece of equipment, I loose money not only for the repair / replacement but because I can't use the equipment to make money. I also don't hesitate to improve on systems either. OEM is fine but in some cases it's just not enough for my liking. While Altec built my derrick hydraulic system with a 10 micron filter as OEM, I added a secondary bypass filter at 3 microns and a spinning water/moisture filter to the main filter system so the oil stays super clean. I won't use cheap oil either. The stuff for $3.50 a gallon will sit on the shelf forever because I will gladly pay the $8 a gallon for the good stuff even though a complete change takes 72 gallons.
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