Well, until Greg can start making kits to switch over to the Cat 2 micron filter, I may have found a substitute that is substantially better than the OEM filter and should fit directly on the OEM mounting head without modification.
All you have to do to get one is drop by your local New Holland Farm Equipment dealer.
Went to the Fleetguard/Cummins website and looked thru their online catalog supplement for fuel filters and water seps, copying down the P/N's for the ones with large enough dimensions and the correct thread/gasket size (about 30 to 40 of them). Then went to the Wix website and saw which ones crossed over to a Wix P/N, and used their spec sheet to see what the micron and other ratings were.
One, Fleetguard FS19680 / Cummins 2830997, crossed over to Wix 33765. Listed as being used on New Holland tractors Models TS110A and TS130A with Cummins 4.5 L and 6.7 L turbo engines. M16 X 1.5 thread, glass filter media, 4 to 6 gpm, beta ratio B75 = 5 (98.7% efficient at 5 microns), fuel/water separator with drain.
Checked at O'Reillys today. It's a special order, and they sent an inquiry in today to see if any were available. Should have an answer back on Monday.
Went to a New Holland website, and found the parts list for these two model tractors. New Holland P/N for the filter is 87803187, sender (I'm assuming wif sensor/drain) 504063255, complete fuel filter assy kit 504063253.
Double checked on the Wix website, the New Holland P/N crossed back to the same Wix number, 33765.
Not as good as the Cat filter, but a bloody far sight better than the OEM filter, and potentially something we can use without any mods until Greg is ready to start supplying Cat Conversion kits. Can't say for sure until someone can get ahold of one and see if it fits.
Pretty freaking sad that a farm tractor has a better fuel filter than our Jeeps.
Feel like I'm back on the boat playing RPPO, digging thru drawings and specs to find parts to jury-rig a piece of equipment because the supposedly correct parts won't work or are unavailable. When I was on one rather old fast boat in Norfolk, Ace Hardware could have changed their motto to "the place with all the parts to keep your nuclear submarine running" from all the business we gave them. Looks like it was good training for owning a CRD.
