This question comes up a lot when talking about filters used in tractors. Many people simply aren’t comfortable using anything other than a John Deere, Case, New Holland etc in their expensive tractor or piece of machinery. This is totally understandable, filters are a cheap insurance policy to keep an expensive machine running.
The question you have to ask yourself is this, “Do I believe John Deere or Case is actually manufacturing their own filters?”
It simply isn’t feasible for tractor manufacturers to make their own filters. Instead, they have companies like Champion Labs, WIX or Donaldson manufacture filters for them and place the JD or CIH logo on the filter.
Tractor manufacturers will tell you that their filters are in every way superior to aftermarket filters. Whether or not that is true 100% of the time I’m not sure, but I have a hard time believing an air filter made by Donaldson for John Deere is any different from the same filter with Donaldson branding.
It is notoriously difficult to take an OEM tractor filter and cross reference it to more than one aftermarket manufacturer. This makes it tough to compare prices. The tougher it is to cross reference the more likely that a customer will simply pay for the expensive OEM filter.
The goal of this site is to give consumers the information they need to make their own decision on what brand of filter goes on their machine.
Here’s a quick example of how to do a filter cross reference on our site, using a John Deere 8420 for an example:
- Use the John Deere 8420 filter cross reference page on this website
- Find the outer engine air filter, which is JD part number RE164839, listed for $91.33 at GreenPartsStore http://www.greenpartstore.com/John-Deere-Outer-Engine-Air-Filter-Element–RE164839_p_23507.html
- Quickly see that the Donaldson P603755 is a direct cross reference to the OEM John Deere air filter, and available for almost half the price.