Leaves Scag air cleaner modification

[tigercat]

Hello everyone, new guy here.

I have a Scag Tiger Cat with the 3 bagger grass catcher. It has the Kawasaki engine. It's a new machine that is used for homeowner use. It seems the air cleaner is in a poor spot when running the bagger. It is quite dusty and I figure the air cleaner will need to be replaced often.
I was thinking of adding a pre-air cleaner around the air intake to repel some of the dust (i.e. a Briggs & Stratton green foam type filter, or maybe a tee shirt could work also. I could use a nylon zip tie and secure it on, then tuck the bottom of the filter underneath). I figure this would save the air filters somewhat from early replacements.

So what are your thoughts on adding a pre-filter over the air intake? You think this might be a bad idea?

Thanks.

 

[tigercat]

Here is a 80% picture of the air cleaner

 

[Mad Mackie]

Hi tigercat,
I do not recommend any modifications to the type of air filtration system that you have on the Kawasaki engine. The system on your Kawasaki has excellent filtering qualities and the carburetor is jetted to meter the air/fuel mixture to accomodate this filter system. This filtering system actually improves as particles accumulate. There should be an air flow indicator installed in this system that when the engine is running will show the percentage of restriction and tell you when the system needs to be serviced.
I have a similar machine, a Scag Tiger Cub with a collection system but I have a 26 Briggs ELS with only the basic filter system and I do limited commercial mowing. I have to change the Briggs filter every 10-15 hours and shake it out after every mowing. Had I been informed about this I would have selected another engine that had the HD filter system as you have. The dust problem is affecting the engine performance and I'm now in the process of selecting a repower engine with only 500 hours on my machine. I'm also on my 3rd set of bearings in the blower housing. I lube these bearings with one pump stroke of the grease gun about every 2-3 hours of operation. Every customer that I have is a dust bowl and my own lawn is the easiest of the bunch.
This week I did three fall/hurricane cleanups and disposed of more than 400 bushels of mostly leaves and pine needles!! I only take customers where I can dispose of the collected stuff either on or near their property.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin:

 

[tigercat]

How many hours on the bearings before you replaced them?

 

[Mad Mackie]

Initially I failed to lube the blower bearings regularly. While mowing a new customers lawn, the blower injested a cast iron fireplace iron and bent several blades. I dissassembled the blower housing and probably hammered too hard on the pulley side of the shaft while removing the bearing and plate and did some damage to the bearing meanwhile. I straightened the impeller blades and reassembled the blower. I usually mow my own lawn with the blower and hose removed and just install the plastic chute. Once while doing this I noticed the inner bearing had failed as the shaft had a lot of radial movement so I replaced both bearings with inexpensive bearings that I found on line. The bearing itself is removable from the cast iron housing that it sits in. These $6.00 Chinese bearings were sloppy when I had to dissassemble the blower housing again to clean the interior of hard dried stuff that I couldn't reach. I went to my local Scag dealer and bought new bearing assemblies and installed them. As I still have the original cast iron bearing housings, I have researched these bearings and purchased much better quality ones at $35.00 each. The cast iron housings are still servicable and I have installed the better quality bearings in them and I will install them the next time that I need to replace these bearings.
The impeller shaft on the pulley side has a tendancey to increase in diameter which makes removing the bearing difficult. I have to use some wet/dry emery paper in a strip to reduce the diameter of this shaft to remove the bearing more easily. The pulley usually comes off easily and I use anti-seize on the shaft where the bearings and pulley sit.
This collection system has about 450 hours on it while the machine total time is about 500 hours.
The engine is my next concern as it has only basic air filtering and is now showing the effects of dust injestion which is adversely affecting it's performance.
Mad Mackie in CT:smile::laughing::biggrin:

 

[Mad Mackie]

Check out the pics of my machines in Mad Mackies albums. This Scag is a 2008 with a collection system and a JRCO dethatcher mounted on the front. This dethatcher gets a lot of use in both the spring and fall as it does a great job cleaning up small branches along with the thatch.
Mad Mackie in CT:smile::laughing::biggrin:

 

[tigercat]

Thank you Mad Mackie, you been most helpful. :wink:

 

[Mad Mackie]

Hi again tigercat,
The blower V belt is a high wear item and I keep one in my trailer along with the tools needed to replace it. I use the same V belt on one of my other machines so I buy 6 at a time.
I use a small pump type grease gun for the blower bearings and I only give them one pump per bearing about every 4-6 hours of operation, too much grease will blow out the seals.
Also bear in mind that the bottom of the blower is close to the ground so be mindfull of this. On hilly spots I mow with the left side of the machine in the low spots. Also on my 3rd blower hose as it is also another high wear item. I buy the type of hose that has a plastic spiral support as it lasts longer than the hose with metal support wire.
Just got home from cleaning up another 200 bushels of mostly pine needles at a customers place.
I also have a new Hustler X-One with a 60" rear discharge deck that is used in a cemetery, nice machine and it has a Kawasaki FX730 engine, sweet running machine and I'm looking at a similar engine to repower my Tiger Cub with. The FX 730 is almost identical to the Kawi on your machine, just a little more HP. The FX designation indicates the HD air filter system is installed.
Later
Mad Mackie in CT:smile::laughing::biggrin:

 

[tigercat]

I just ordered a v-belt and will put it in the Scag box when it arives. As much as I hate doing leaves by hand, keeping the blower turning is a good idea. I always have a few parts in a box (plugs, filters, belts, pins, etc) on the shelf labeled snowblower or tractor has saved me time when things happen. I'm now building a Scag box.....:smile:

Thanks again.