Air Filters

Today I took the Taco on an important trip: her first time to the range.

I also took her off road a bit for the real first time. I took her down some back roads (rolling, places where the road has washed out, deep and really loose sand, etc.) in the Sand Hills of NC. I have been down these before in a friend's Subaru Outback and we nearly got stuck many times in sandy, loose soil.

And the verdict: the Taco crushed it. She may have just a stock SR5 suspension and street tires (for now, on both counts) but man the truck crushed it. There was NEVER a point where it felt like we were struggling like the Outback.

And man we kicked up a lot of dust. So much so that I will wash her tomorrow.

But this got me thinking about air filtration.

What is the expected lifespan on the air filter when you drive this way? I assume that the 7 or 8 miles I spend on these dusty roads did little. But I may check in the morning.

Is there anything other than a snorkel that you can to improve air filtration on these very dusty roads?

Thanks in advance.

 

Half as long as normal use. I just take my and knock the dust and bugs out of it when im under the hood till it looks dirty.

 

I have 33k and I’ve done hardcore trailing as well as a lot of dry dust trails and even at that my filter looked very clean still. Only reason I replaced it was because I wanted a TRD performance one

 

Would you choose an oiled or dry filter?

I was thinking about getting this dry air filter and throwing her in: https://afepower.com/afe-power-31-10247-magnum-flow-pro-dry-s-air-filter

 

Two things:
1. Dirt holding capacity of a filter and
2. Filtration level (size of holes)

Because neither of these numbers are used on consumer grade products, I stick with OEM so I know it's good enough.

As far as dusty environments, 1/2 is the rule of thumb. Personally I can go around 50K on my air filter. If I drove in extremely dusty places, I would change air filter every other oil change.