Was given a Fram Drive FD16. No idea how old it is, and decided to cut it open. Looks decent enough, media was strongly glued to the end caps.
Fram FD16 cut open
- Thread starter jeepman3071
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BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
looks okay, looks to be an extra guard for AAP. i wouldn’t run one but thank you for the C&P
I agree with you on BOTH points lol
Good Morning JeepMan3071,
Great pictures, thank you for sharing. I valued your comment about the strong gluing. What also impressed me was how neat and uniform the gluing is. With no sidewall of a metal endcap one can see how precisely the gluing is controlled. It would be great to see a video of how Fram achieves this.
This Fram Drive is a Fram filter. Most applications of the AAP "Fram" Drive filters have been Champ Labs made filters, like SuperTech ecore line. I expect that hasn't changed. As noted, this one looks equivalent to Extra Guard without the silicone adbv, less cost at WM. Though not a filter I'd purchase, looks ok.
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Good Morning Sayjac,
I did a little digging on the Fram website on the Drive model. It has a 7,500 mile rating where the Extra Guards are at 10,000 miles. Also there is no Efficiency at Micron rating on the Drive filters. Only a statement "*FRAM Group testing of filter performance of FD8A and FD7317 under ISO4548- 12". I suspect it is lower than the Extra Guards that are at 95% at 20 microns.
For my version the price at AAP is $5.84 on line, $6.49 in store. The Fram Extra Guard is $4.12 at Walmart and Amazon everyday with better life performance. It would be interesting to understand AAPs' marketing rationale to create a unique AAP sku in the opening price point range.
Yeah it looks okay, but not a filter I would use or buy considering the price at AAP.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
VERY Nice pictures thanks...
Second picture to the top right end cap.
It looks like it separated a bit. See if you can peel it...just saying.. This looks like the PH2 I did.
Second picture to the top right end cap.
It looks like it separated a bit. See if you can peel it...just saying.. This looks like the PH2 I did.
I found a video of the Fram factory from 10 years ago. At 3:06 starts the gluing process of the fiber end caps followed by heat to cure the glue. The entire video is very good. The level of automation is incredible.
The thing here is, as noted most "Fram" Drive are as noted Champ Labs made filters so any specs/ratings they have could be for those. With First Brands, topic FD16 filter 'could' well be an EG (with nitrile adbv thus 7500) by another name. From the standpoint of manufacturing economies of scale that would make sense. Whatever the casetheough, EG by another name with nitrile adbv or specifically made FD element, wouldn't change my purchase opinion.
First Brands probably sold that fancy machine for cash, and replaced it with a bare footed juvenile with a tube of glue in his hand.
Another factory video on Fram I found stated that factory produces 500,000 filters per day. That juvenile would need to be pretty fast!First Brands probably sold that fancy machine for cash, and replaced it with a bare footed juvenile with a tube of glue in his hand.
The other thing that would be interesting to learn is how that automation handles all the different models, sizes, media, tapping plates etc.
Good catch, that was actually from me pulling on it before taking the pictures.VERY Nice pictures thanks...
Second picture to the top right end cap.
It looks like it separated a bit. See if you can peel it...just saying.. This looks like the PH2 I did.
Champion ecore filters have a nylon plastic center core cage, this filter has the old style steel center core of the original extra guard. The fact that it has a nitrile style ADBV, indicates that this is a clone of an older extra guard design.
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