Air Filter Housing Heart Disease

I've scrapped clean as much as possible with a screwdriver, but it ain't much. Before I go and buy a wire brush shaped for this sort of thing, I wanted to see if maybe someone here had a good method for cleaning these things. Thanks for any suggestions.

Now I'm off to find the guy who designed this this thing, so maybe I can force HIM to clean it--that is, unless he's already in hell damned to dismantle and clean 8N filter housings for eternity.

I finally borrowed my neighbor's power washer and used the 15? jet to clean out my air filter housing. Yes, it was gunked up between the oil bath and the outlet to the carburetor, so thick and dense that it was hard to stick a screwdriver in it. The power washer cut through it no problem, so the filter is good to go now. I also cleaned out the wire mesh, which wasn't so dirty, and the air intake vent on the hood, which was missing the dust jar. I corked up the opening for the dust jar, since I don't operate in very dusty conditions I figure I'll hold off on buying a bracket.

Thanks again, this forum is an awesome place, my tractor wouldn't be in half as good of shape without you all!

The N filter is self cleaning if it is maintained correctly. The oil that is in the cup is drawn up into the wire mesh when the engine is running and if the dust particles are not caught in the remainder of the oil at the bottom of the oil cup they will be caught as the air passed up through the oil covered wire mesh. When the engine is stopped the oil drains back down into the cup and deposits the dust it caught into the oil in the cup and it settles to the bottom. This is the reason that the oil cup has to be cleaned at intervals according to how much dust it is exposed to.

I am thinking that at some time your air filter was allowed to dry up most of the oil from the filter cup and the dust was able to continue on into the area where it would normally not go if maintained correctly.

Zane