Air cleaner box

[BKneeland]

I had the same problem when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska. All of the non paved roads had glacial sill which is you described when dry is "like talcum powder". From 1969 thru 1976
I had a 1969 4x4 W200 power wagon, 318 ci, and the old style air filter on top of the cab. Back then the pan was filled with oil below the air filter. It was the most efficient design for
trapping dust of all sizes, but a little messy when cleaning and putting in new oil . My Gen 3 dodge air filter works Okay here in the lower 48 but not as good as the 1969 power wagon.
I am convinced the the Gen 3 stock air filter box design is flawed. 100% of all Gen 3 trucks that I have looked at have some degree of box-to fender separation. As an engineer I know that the design
engineers at Dodge designed the box to remain "tight up" to the fender - with no separation. One can purchase 3M weather strip with an adhesive back in different sizes to replace
the OEM foam that attaches to the metal fender. But my problem is the stock air filter box no longer fits tight up to the fender air inlet to the box. The front bracket (attached with
a 10 mm hex screw) of the box has twisted and is no longer true. And the female grommet which is part of the battery tray assembly (that receives the nub on the bottom of the box)
has been pushed down maybe 1/2" or more.
I would say at this time that a new stock battery tray assembly and air filter box is going to be the likely stock fix.

 

[BKneeland]

I will look at your solution to see if the machine screws will pull the box about 5/8" of an inch to close the gap. I have a couple of Gen 3 friends that are going to get some kind of answer from their Dodge dealers about this common problem. Appreciate the info.

 

[BKneeland]

I have been checking with friends who own Gen 3 & Gen 4 diesels and all have the stock air filter boxes with a GAP between the box and the fender. Yesterday
a 2008 diesel parked next to my truck at a restaurant, I asked the guy if I could look at his Gen 4 box and his had the same problem. So far I have looked at 8 trucks
from 2004-2008 and every one has the SAME PROBLEM. Has anyone seen this PROBLEM mentioned in our TDR magazine?

 

[CVR222NV]

Like I wrote above, when I modded my airbox, I replaced the foam with a deeper closed cell foam, then added two SMALL machine screws with wing nuts that went through both the filter box and the fender at 9 and 3 oclock. Using the nuts, I drew the box up against the fender and it has been fine ever since.

I ALSO like to use a light coasting of vaseline on the top side of the actual air filter that seals up against the box lid to help seal the filter to the box on the "clean" side of the intake.

All that being said, the fender intake hole on the side of the air box still goes into the filtered (ie dirty) side of the intake box, so despite your concerns, your air is still being completely filtered (as long as the box lid is sealed correctly), despite being drawn in from the engine compartment instead of the fender opening.

Seafish, any way you can post a photo of how you used the closed cell foam and attachments at 3 and 9 o'clock? The fender in my 2006 truck angles away from the air box opening on the battery side and I'm just not seeing an attachment point on that side of the fender.

 

[seafish]

SUPER busy, but I will try to find some time in the coming week, but I cannot promise right now.

The thing is, when I was doing my Home Depot (or in my case Woodworkers Supply) airbox mod, adding the machine screws was the simplest, most obvious, low tech solution to the problem of the airbox pulling away from the fender opening. There is NOT much room to do so due to the narrowness of the fender flange, but it CAN be done relatively easily.