Syklone BLOWN AWAY!!!

[noyakfat]

Bit of an expensive loss yesterday...

Took Vincent for a big day drive from Canberra down to Cooma, then up the unsealed road towards Braidwood, turning off for a low range visit to Bendethera camping area, then home via Araluen Road and Braidwood.

We aired down at the turnoff track off Coooma Road (Middle Mountain Road) towards Bendethera, where we had a chat to a nice bloke and his family who were heading out the other way. I didn't notice anything amiss, but certainly didn't look closely at the snorkel.

On the way in, via the very steep ups and downs, despite stopping and chatting to several 4x4's and a couple of motorbikes, nobody else noticed anything visibly out of place (or certainly didn't mention it if they did)...

Finally arrived at the Bendethera Caves grassed parking area and stopped for a cup of tea. First sip of steaming tea and smiling from the smell of the fresh, crisp, clear air and I almost choked! Standing next to the vehicle I noticed my brand new Syklone pre-cleaner was GONE! :eek:

It simply was not there! Just a safari snorkel tube in all it's wide open throaty glory, proudly poking skyward with nothing between my engine and the open air!

Most of the trip in from the airing down point (about 1hr45min) was walking pace. We took it very steady, didn't collide with any trees, sticks or anything and I am simply baffled as to where and when the pre-cleaner came off :censored:

I slipped off my shoes and pulled an explorer sock over the open pipe, snigging it up with some tie-wire, to at least try and provide some filtering on the very dry dusty track.

Due to the lack of concerned punters during our earlier "G'days", I thought perhaps it had only just come off in the last few km. We started to back track, but there was no evidence to be found :confused:

We met up with a bloke and his family who we had stopped and chatted to earlier at the Dampier trig point. He said he hadn't seen anything on the track. Mind you, some of the final bits of this track near Bendethera camp ground would make a billy goat blush, so I reckon if it fell off in the last few km it probably rolled down into some deep dark ravine never to be seen again.

We decided it was likely gone forever, so after much swearing, feelings of exasperation and disappointment, I decided to take my bat and ball and go home :mad:

The sky was cloudy, so I didn't want to hang around. I am VERY thankful it didn't rain.

The pre-cleaner was fitted with a very well made adaptor (which is still attached with rock-solid lack of movement). The head was attached with a very solid clamp and tightened appropriately.

I still can't believe I didn't see the thing come off, as surely it would have easily been seen dropping virtually in front of me. My only other thought is that it came off on the highway or the other road prior to the slow 4x4 leg. In this case it may have lifted off at speed and been flung far to the rear.

There are no signs of impact or scratches anywhere on the vehicle to help work it out. It is as if it just vanished :(

Anyway, it was an expensive and very upsetting loss. This morning I'll be re-fitting the original safari ram head (which my wife lovingly pointed out had nothing wrong with it in the first place), as I don't have the $$$ to fork out for another syklone head. Better have a look at the air cleaner as well to see how it faired.

Trip home with the sock was trouble free, no loss of power (so perhaps the air filter is not too dusty) but slow on the crappy winding dirt up Araluen Road.

I am satisfied I have whinged and ranted enough now. Time to suck it up and get on with things. It was just a tad hard to take given it was a $270 piece of equipment and we had ensured it was solidly fitted, plus the fact two days earlier a freak incident with a stick resulted in the aluminium mesh above the front bumper being pierced inwards with said stick (thank goodness the radiator was unscathed).

End of sooking tirade...

PS- Carlie now thinks Vincent looks like he's had a significant snipping-off of prominent "man bits" and reckons we should re-name him Margaret... which I am strongly considering... :D

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Bugger!

Says something about installing pop rivets or screws for extra protection, that or fitting a safety chain.

[uninformed]

Hang on, do you not have the standard in engine bay air filter as well?

[AndyG]

I wonder if someone pinched, maybe before the trip started :mad:

[noyakfat]

Hang on, do you not have the standard in engine bay air filter as well?

Yes, I have the standard air filter in the engine bay.

I've re-fitted the safari ram head to the snorkel now.

Andy, you are on my line of thinking. Perhaps it wasn't there at all before we left (and I neglected to notice) or perhaps someone had a crack at pinching it and didn't quite get there, loosening the nut on the bolted screw clamp???

Ah well, I'll never know. I guess it just goes to show you should check absolutely everything prior to a trip away.

Cheers,

[LowRanger]

I had my Syklone pre filter come off after driving through some Lantana and I didn't notice it until I pulled up a few KM down the road.I backtracked and found it by the side of the track.It now sits mounted with a stainless wire safety attachment to hold it,if it ever decides to part company with the raised air intake again.

[POD]

I'm a bit puzzled, you say nothing between your engine and the open air, but you have the stock air filter in place? This is what the overwhelming majority of vehicles have to provide clean air to the engine and is quite sufficient unless you are in the habit of tailgating (or travelling in close convoy) on dirt roads. I had a Donaldson cyclone precleaner on my last vehicle during a 17,000 km outback trip that included the Anne Beadell Highway, Tanami Track and Gibb River Road, amongst others. The precleaner gathered about 1mm of dust in the bowl during the whole trip. Routine maintenance of the paper element is sufficient in almost all circumstances. Precleaners are perhaps a necessity for a mine vehicle or similar, surely just another gadget on most 4wds.

[nugge t]

Wouldn't really agree on that one. I have found the SY Klone to be an excellent addition to my touring set up and mine have taken a fair hammer at times including the Anne Beadell, Centre Line Track, Connie Sue, Talawana, Gary and many others.

But it is not really on those tracks where they are of value but on the long dirt roads such as the Plenty H/Way etc where there are road trains. Still pays to check and maintain the filter but what doesn't get to it doesn't need to be cleaned so I see it as a preventative measure.

Iam really surprised to hear of the cleaners coming off. I have run them on my last 2 trucks and never had a problem. They have been belted by branches on deseret tracks and often where there is no track and whilst both the pre cleaner and the snorkel had plenty of battle scars, they remained in position. There is a 45mm internal recess with slots to ensure plenty of clamping pressure if the bolt clamp is correctly fastened.

[Bushie]

I'm a bit of a fan of pre-cleaners especially for the long outback trips.
I'd reckon plenty of dust sucked up under these sorts of conditions.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/346.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/347.jpg

Especially if you are a following vehicle.

My last precleaner is somewhere on the side of the centreline track through woomera :(

Any heads up on who supplies Sy-klones around Sydney ?


Martyn

[numpty]

Know nothing of Skyclones, but I recently purchased a cheap ($35) pre cleaner from ebay, which should get a significant workout on the next Edjit adventure in July.

Whilst I agree that the standard setup, well maintained, should provide adequate protection, after seeing what ended up in the airbox after our Centreline excursion, (mulga sticks 6mm in dia and over 150mm long and this was through a snorkel :o) I thought it a good idea to try something in addition.

I think my vehicle is the one in front in Bushies first photo........nuff said.

[noyakfat]

Hi Pod,

I perhaps went off a bit about free access to the engine... was a bit tender at the time of writing... and essentially, I was more referring to the open (vertical pointing) pipe looking ominously skyward towards overcast skies. I was worried about water ingestion, needlessly as it turned out, rather than dust.

Of course I am fully aware of the standard air filter, and I know that it is all that is necessary for most situations with regular appropriate maintenance. However, I grew up in western Qld and have done many many trips in dry dusty areas, having been through several intense dust storms, heavily overgrown narrow property tracks, but more often the long stretches of unsealed dusty tracks. In still air the dust can simply hang there, and I fully appreciate any additional benefits provided by a pre-cleaner of some sort.

You don't have to sit up someones bum to cop a lung full of dust. On the way back to Braidwood the other day, there was no hint of any breeze. The tight trails through the hills seemed to have the dust hanging completely still like a thick fog. We actually sat on the road for almost ten minutes at one point and there was no improvement. This is quite a common phenomenon. We had to get moving at some point. This type of dust is talcum powder fine, and gets through every "seal" in the defender to coat the occupants :)

I am still at a loss as to how the Syklone came loose (if that's indeed what happened). It was carefully installed and tightened appropriately with a very secure (supplied) clamp. As I said previously, I'll take the blame and say I should have checked everything more thoroughly prior to the trip.

Maybe at tax time I'll feel sufficiently flush to buy another one and try again, but maybe I'll look into some additional retention system just in case... or I'll just stick to the safari head for the near future.

All in all, I thought the Syklone was a worthwhile investment and a great design.

Cheers,
Nige

[n plus one]

Oiled foam pre cleaner for the Safari head instead? Oiled foam is in a class of one for seriously dusty conditions - they don't run them on dirt bikes/rallye cars for fun - I've personally scraped an inch of solid dust off an oiled filter (dozens of times) and found the airbox spotless behind.

[nugge t]

Some questions being asked about their suitablilty on newer engines I believe particularly if any excess oil is inadvertently sucked in and affects the air sensor.

[Iain_B]

I have a Syklone on mine, and judging by the deep scratches on it and and the snorkel after the Anne Beadell, it is held on very tightly by the clamp.

I have a couple of cable ties as "safety tie" so that if it does get knocked off, there is a chance it will just bounce against the drivers window for a while.

Performance wise i think it works great, had next top no dust in the air filter after 10,000km of dirt road travel, super clean when compared to amount if dust I used to get with the normal Mantec snorkel head.

[rick130]

FWIW Donaldson have their Top Spin pre-cleaner too, it works like the Sy-Klone rather than the traditional Donaldson clear bowl pre-cleaner and is more efficient too.

I'll just be running a foam pre cleaner on the snorkel head.

Cheaper initially but more work (maintenance) in use.

[POD]

Hi Pod,

I perhaps went off a bit about free access to the engine... was a bit tender at the time of writing... and essentially, I was more referring to the open (vertical pointing) pipe looking ominously skyward towards overcast skies. I was worried about water ingestion, needlessly as it turned out, rather than dust.

Of course I am fully aware of the standard air filter, and I know that it is all that is necessary for most situations with regular appropriate maintenance. However, I grew up in western Qld and have done many many trips in dry dusty areas, having been through several intense dust storms, heavily overgrown narrow property tracks, but more often the long stretches of unsealed dusty tracks. In still air the dust can simply hang there, and I fully appreciate any additional benefits provided by a pre-cleaner of some sort.

You don't have to sit up someones bum to cop a lung full of dust. On the way back to Braidwood the other day, there was no hint of any breeze. The tight trails through the hills seemed to have the dust hanging completely still like a thick fog. We actually sat on the road for almost ten minutes at one point and there was no improvement. This is quite a common phenomenon. We had to get moving at some point. This type of dust is talcum powder fine, and gets through every "seal" in the defender to coat the occupants :)

I am still at a loss as to how the Syklone came loose (if that's indeed what happened). It was carefully installed and tightened appropriately with a very secure (supplied) clamp. As I said previously, I'll take the blame and say I should have checked everything more thoroughly prior to the trip.

Maybe at tax time I'll feel sufficiently flush to buy another one and try again, but maybe I'll look into some additional retention system just in case... or I'll just stick to the safari head for the near future.

All in all, I thought the Syklone was a worthwhile investment and a great design.

Cheers,
Nige

Yeah I guess I can understand the concern with that hanging dust, I've only experienced that on a very few occasions myself (the thought of dust is giving me itchy feet as the cold wet weather sets in down here...). No way would I travel in convoy close enough to enjoy the kind of view in Bushy's first photo, although yes there are times when you kind of get stuck in it such as waiting to pass a slower vehicle etc. I was really surprised by how little was collected in the bowl on the one big trip I have done with the precleaner. I've also seen farmers with tractors whose engines are worth many times the cost of my vehicle, who never bother to empty the bowl on the precleaner despite it being chockers after the first day of harvesting!

[LowRanger]

I'm a bit of a fan of pre-cleaners especially for the long outback trips.
I'd reckon plenty of dust sucked up under these sorts of conditions.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/346.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/04/347.jpg

Especially if you are a following vehicle.

My last precleaner is somewhere on the side of the centreline track through woomera :(

Any heads up on who supplies Sy-klones around Sydney ?


Martyn

Martyn

This is where I ordered mine from Sy-Klone - Air Pre- Cleaner Technologies (http://www.lsmtechnologies.com.au/index.cfm?go=syklone)
I found them good to deal with over the phone,they will ask questions and make sure you get the correct unit for your vehicle,and I had it delivered to my door in Sydney in 3 days.I don't know of any distributor in Sydney.

[clubagreenie]

The oiled foam pre cleaners are MAF friendly as long as they are that, pre cleaners where the paper stops any transfer of oil to the MAF sensor. It's been proved many times and extensively here through testing that they do not keep up with paper as a primary filtration source.