Oil filter change interval on Kawasaki FR730V

[asker123]

The OEM oil filter for FR730V on my Cub Cadet Z Force SX 54 is crazy expensive here in Canada. $30+
Manual says to change it every 200 hours. With the amount of mowing I do, that will be 6 years.
The mower right now has approx. 100 hours on it ( 3 years old) and I change oil every year before storing for winter.
My options are
1) Find an alternate filter that is less expensive and change every year along with oil change. Are there any genuine replacements? I am big fan of Fram Ultra but could not find anything specifically mentioned for my mower/engine on Fram website.
2) Stick to the OEM filter and perhaps change every 100 hours which would be 3 years for me. I am bit anxious to keep a filter working for 3 full mowing seasons. Do you see any issues doing this? Oil quantity when filter is replaced is 2.1 liters and without filter change is 1.8 liters so the filter keeps 300ml of old oil.

P.S. - My expectation for the Engine and Hydros are 1000 hours trouble free with oil changed as per the manual.

 

[millerbl00]

I would change the oil filter every 100 hrs. I have the same engine.

I would change the Hydos oil more often maybe 150 hrs

 

[Lawnman23]

Any of the Fram 3614 models work great on OPE. The PH3614 or TG3614 would be plenty of filter for the application. Wally World has a ST3614 that would work great as well.

Small engines, even air-cooled, wont care about the filter specs. Any filter will be more than enough.

 

[millerbl00]

I agree any oil filter will do for the engine

 

[Brian123]

https://www.oilfilter-crossreference.com/convert/KAWASAKI/49065-7007

 

[Lawnman23]

Technically, Fram has a direct replacement for the Kawi filter. The 3614's are just a bit taller(3.43" vs 2.26") and provide more surface area and oil capacity. If you have the room, the 3600 models work as well, they are just a bit tall(4.92") for some/lots of fitments.

 

[GrumpyCat]

A HiFlo Filtro HF204 fits possibly half of the motorcycles on the road such as GL1800. And my old 5.5 HP Kawasaki. Strongly suspect it would be a good filter for Kawasaki.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Frankly I'd change the filter and the oil and drain the gas after the last mowing of the year.

 

[userfriendly]

I was able to fit a ph8a on my x320. The Champion built filters are a more compact design than the Frams.
Ph16s are shorter with the same OD as ph8s.
A few years ago I snapped some plastic shroud off to fit #3600 filters.
I found a brand new 2020 Kubota T2290-48
for half price that’s been sitting out in the elements for 4 years.
I’ll warm it up and drain the 4 year old factory fill and see how big a filter I can fit on it.
These Kawasaki engines seem to like NGK iridium plugs.
BPR5EiX-11 are a large design, 13/16 hex and .043 (1.1mm) gap.
BPR5EiX are the same except.035” (.9mm) gap.
BKR5EiX are a compact design with a 5/8 hex and .31” (.8mm) gap, add -11 for .043” gap.
NGK plugs that end in -9 have a .9mm or .035 gap.
How do I know all this? Because I just spent two days trying to cross over the stock Champion plugs, then trying to find one that Canadian Tire had.

 

[userfriendly]

Frankly I'd change the filter and the oil and drain the gas after the last mowing of the year.

I do the same thing except instead of draining the gasoline I fill it right to the top with E-0 premium marine 94.
We aren’t talking buckets of oil here. Running out 2 litres of oil and a five dollar filter on an $8,000 lawn tractor makes no financial sense to me.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

I do the same thing except instead of draining the gasoline I fill it right to the top with E-0 premium marine 94.
We aren’t talking buckets of oil here. Running out 2 litres of oil and a five dollar filter on an $8,000 lawn tractor makes no financial sense to me.

Two liters of oil on a $8K mower man we are talking about a major expense aren't we. But its you mower!

 

[userfriendly]

Two liters of oil on a $8K mower man we are talking about a major expense aren't we. But its you mower!

At the end of every month I have to rearrange the deck chairs in the Titanic. An extra oil filter every two or three years might sink the ship.

 

[MParr]

FRAM TG4967, FRAM XG4967, STP S4967
Change the oil and filter yearly or every 100 hours. It’s in the engine manual.

 

[racer12306]

3614 size on a Kaw FS here

Change oil and filter at 100hrs regardless of time, usually about 1.5 years.

Extra stabil marine for the winter, quad dose rather than the usual double dose.

 

[jeepman3071]

I would definitely use a Fram PH3614, TG3614, etc. Plenty of filter for a Kawasaki mower engine, I'm running a FE3614 on my Kawasaki FS481V in my Exmark. The Kawasaki OEM filters are good, but not worth the premium price over aftermarket options.

 

[oil pan 4]

Fram fe3600 can be your 5 year filter, if there's room for it.
I'm guessing you can get those in Canada.

 

[asker123]

Technically, Fram has a direct replacement for the Kawi filter. The 3614's are just a bit taller(3.43" vs 2.26") and provide more surface area and oil capacity. If you have the room, the 3600 models work as well, they are just a bit tall(4.92") for some/lots of fitments.

That means 3614 and 3600 should require bit more oil to add because 2.1 liters of oil is specified with OEM filter in place.
Is that right? Do you( or anyone else) knows, how much?

 

[Lawnman23]

That means 3614 and 3600 should require bit more oil to add because 2.1 liters of oil is specified with OEM filter in place.
Is that right? Do you( or anyone else) knows, how much?

Kawasaki themselves, not a 3rd party site, says it takes 2.0 liters with a filter. Yes, the larger filters will take a touch more fluid overall.

Pick a filter that has been mentioned here, dump 2 liters down the fill tube, start the engine to let the filter fill up, shut it down and let it sit for 30 minutes and check the level on the dipstick. Add as needed to reach FULL mark.

 

[oil pan 4]

The 3600 size oil filter maybe takes 6 to 8 more ounces over the micro nubby filter it's supposed to have.
I say if you use a 3600 size filter dump in 2 whole quarts plus a nice 3 to 4 ounce glug fire it up for say a minute and check it, add more as needed.
Change the oil or test it at 100hrs.
Keep the oil filter on there till it starts to rust.

 

[Lawnman23]

The 3600 size oil filter maybe takes 6 to 8 more ounces over the micro nubby filter it's supposed to have.
I say if you use a 3600 size filter dump in 2 whole quarts plus a nice 3 to 4 ounce glug fire it up and check it, add more as needed.

Hes in Canadia, quarts are liters, ounces are milliliters. Some math and conversions and sorta-kinda-maybes involved.

But yes