Cat 330 GC Air Filter Numbers: 496-9845 and 496-9846

Published: October 31, 2026By CN Machinery

The 330 GC and the 336 GC are the value end of Cat's Next Gen excavator range, and both of them run the 7.1-litre C7.1 engine. On the air side that means one pair of elements covers both machines, which makes the filter a sensible thing for a fleet or a parts counter to hold in quantity. It is also the pair that goes wrong most often in a quotation, because the number 336 is shared by machines that do not share an air box at all. Everything below comes from Cat's parts pages and Cat's published machine data, and where two Cat sources disagree we show both figures instead of choosing the convenient one.

1. Two Elements, One Air Box

Cat files the two numbers under different names and different efficiency grades, and that difference is the whole point of the design:

	496-9845	496-9846
Cat's part name	Ultra High Efficiency Engine Air — Primary	Standard Efficiency Engine Air — Secondary
Efficiency grade	UHE	Standard
Shape	Non-round (panel)	Element inside the primary
Position	Outside element, first in the airflow	Inner element, downstream of the primary
Job, in Cat's words	High-efficiency primary with integrated pre-cleaner	Last line of defence while the primary is being serviced or if the primary is breached
Dimensions published by Cat	17.386 × 11.862 × 9.984 in (441.6 × 301.3 × 253.6 mm)	Not published on the product page

The efficiency split looks backwards until you look at the housing. The pre-cleaner in front of the panel throws the coarse dust out before it reaches the media, so the primary carries a heavy load and gets the expensive grade. The secondary never sees that load — it only works when the primary is out of the housing or has been holed — so Cat specifies it as a standard-efficiency element. Buyers who "upgrade" the secondary to match the primary are spending money on a filter that will be replaced unused.

2. What 496-9845 Actually Measures

Three sources give three sets of numbers for the same element, and none of them is wrong — they measure different things:

Source	Figures	What it is measuring
Cat parts data	Overall height 17.386 in (441.6 mm); 11.862 in (301.3 mm); overall width 9.984 in (253.6 mm); shape non-round	The element as sold, on Cat's specification block
HiFi SA 160081 (HiFi's replacement for SF Schupp SL83168)	D1 439 mm, D2 405 mm, D3 250 mm; H1 300 mm, H2 265 mm, H3 53 mm	The same element measured by an independent filter maker, dimension by dimension
Factory catalogue listing for 496-9845	410 × 245 × 267 mm	A single bounding box, which fits neither of the two above exactly

The two credible sources agree on the footprint — 441.6 mm against 439 mm, and 253.6 mm against 250 mm — which is what seats the panel in the housing. They part company on the third figure: 301.3 mm from Cat, 300 mm from HiFi, 267 mm from the factory catalogue. That difference is the pre-cleaner stack, and whether the supplier measured it as part of the element or as a separate moulding. It is also why we ask for three measurements off the old element — length, width and the overall height over the gasket face — rather than accepting a cross number. On a panel filter, 20 mm of error in the wrong direction means the lid does not close on the seal.

3. Why the Model Name Does Not Decide the Filter

Cat's compatible-model list for both numbers is broad: 330, 330 GC, 336, 336 GC, 326, 326 GC, 333, 349, 352, 355, the 707 wide-body truck, the MH3040 and the 330 MHPU. Reading that list as "the 330 GC uses a filter that a 352 uses" is a mistake, because the same list is built on the air cleaner group rather than on the engine. The 336 is where this bites:

Cat 330 GC Filter Kit: The Eight Numbers One Machine Needs →

Machine	Engine as documented	Air filter pair
330 GC	Cat C7.1, 105 × 135 mm, 7.01 L, 150 kW (201 hp) net	496-9845 + 496-9846
336 GC	Cat C7.1, 275 hp (205 kW) gross ISO 14396 per Cat's 2018 launch release	496-9845 + 496-9846
336, C9.3B build	Cat C9.3B, 314 hp (234 kW) gross — the engine in Cat's 2018 launch release for the 336	496-9841 + 496-9842
336, current Cat spec page	Cat C7.1 TTA, 302 hp (225 kW) ISO 14396, 7.01 L	Confirm against the housing
340, 345, 345 GC, 349 GC, 350	C9.3 / C9.3B family	496-9841 + 496-9842

Two Cat sources, two different engines for the same model number, and both of them current enough to be quoted by a dealer. That is not a documentation error you can argue with at the counter — it is a build difference, and it is why the serial prefix matters more than the decal. The 496-9841 pair is a different element altogether: a factory listing gives 519 × 294 × 300 mm for it, with HiFi crossing it to SA 160098 and SF Schupp to SL83178. It does not fit a housing built for the 441 mm panel, and the 441 mm panel will not seal in a housing built for the 519 mm element.

The practical rule is to shop by housing, not by badge. A flat panel with a pre-cleaner stack in the lid is the 496-9845 and 496-9846 pair. A round element with a clamp ring is the smaller 320 class housing and takes the 479-8989 primary with the 479-8991 secondary. Ask the customer for a photograph of the open housing with a tape across the opening; it settles in one message what three part-number lookups will not.

4. The Rest of the 330 GC Service

The air pair is only one line of the service. Cat's 330 GC specification data puts the fuel tank at 474 L, the hydraulic system including tank at 310 L, the engine oil at 25 L and the DEF tank at 41 L, so an oil service is one cartridge in a 25-litre sump rather than a bank of spin-ons.

Position	Number	Note
Engine air — primary	496-9845	UHE panel with integrated pre-cleaner
Engine air — secondary	496-9846	Standard efficiency, inside the primary
Engine oil	322-3155	Advanced efficiency lube filter assembly — a cartridge in housing 322-3154, not a spin-on
Fuel — separator	523-4987	Ultra High Efficiency element, upstream
Fuel — secondary	509-5694	Downstream element, different size from the separator

The lube filter catches people out because 322-3155 is not a can. It is an element that drops into the 322-3154 housing, so a customer ordering "an oil filter for a 330 GC" and receiving a spin-on has been sold the wrong shape, not a bad filter. The fuel side is the same story in reverse: two elements in series, and the numbers are not interchangeable. Our GC fuel filter guide covers that pair in detail, including the one dimension Cat prints two ways.

5. The Intervals Cat Actually Changed

Cat's launch material for the Next Gen 330 and 330 GC is worth reading before anyone quotes a service schedule from memory, because the numbers moved:

Item	Cat's published change
Engine air filter with integrated pre-cleaner	Double the dust holding capacity of the previous design
Hydraulic return filter	3,000-hour service life — 50 percent longer than the previous filter
Fuel system filters	Synchronized for service at 1,000 hours — 100 percent longer than the previous filters
Overall maintenance	Up to 20 percent lower maintenance cost than the previous series

Two caveats belong with that table. The first is that these are series-level figures from Cat's press release for the 330 and 330 GC, reprinted by dealers such as Finning — they describe the design intent, not a schedule for a particular serial. The second is that dust holding capacity is the one specification a mine site can use up in a month: a machine on rock drilling in the Sahel and a machine on trenching in Malaysia will not see the same air filter life, whatever the brochure says.

6. What We Do Not Publish

No price, because quantity, lane and whether the order is the pair or the full service set decide it. No micron rating or efficiency percentage for either element beyond Cat's own grade names — UHE and standard — because Cat does not publish a beta ratio on the product pages we could read, and a number invented to fill a table is worse than a blank. No replacement hour interval for the air pair: Cat ties that to the operation and maintenance manual and to site conditions. And no claim that a cross number is a fitment. HiFi SA 160081 is a verified cross for the primary; SA 160082 for the secondary rests on a single supplier listing and we label it as a lead.

What we will do is confirm the pair against your machine before it ships. Send the model, the serial prefix and three measurements off the old elements, or a photograph of the open housing with a rule across it, and we quote the air pair, the 322-3155 lube element and the fuel elements on one order, FOB Shanghai or CIF to your port.

FAQ

Q: What is the air filter part number for a Cat 330 GC?
A: A 330 GC takes two engine air elements, not one. The primary is 496-9845, an Ultra High Efficiency non-round panel with the pre-cleaner built into the element; Cat's parts data gives it as 17.386 in (441.6 mm) by 11.862 in (301.3 mm) by 9.984 in (253.6 mm). The secondary is 496-9846, a standard-efficiency element that sits inside the primary. Cat lists both numbers for the 330 GC, the 336 GC, the 326, 330, 333, 349, 352 and 355 excavators and the 330 MHPU.

Q: Is the Cat 336 GC air filter the same as the 336?
A: Not by model name alone. The 336 GC uses the C7.1 engine and takes the 496-9845 and 496-9846 pair. The 336 has been built with more than one engine: Cat's 2018 launch release lists it with the C9.3B at 314 hp (234 kW), while Cat's current 336 specification page lists a Cat C7.1 TTA at 302 hp (225 kW). The C9.3 and C9.3B machines such as the 340, 345, 345 GC, 349 GC and 350 use 496-9841 and 496-9842 instead. Resolve the air filter on the engine and the housing, not the badge.

Q: Should I change the secondary air element at the same time as the primary?
A: Cat positions 496-9846 as the backstop that protects the engine while the primary is out of the housing or if the primary is breached, not as a working filter. Change the secondary whenever the primary has been damaged, when the housing has been opened in dusty conditions, or when the element shows dirt on its clean side. The replacement interval itself comes from the operation and maintenance manual for your serial, not from a supplier, because dust loading is site-specific.

Q: What does the Cat 496-9845 air filter cross-reference to?
A: The one catalogue cross we could verify is HiFi SA 160081, which HiFi lists as its replacement for the SF Schupp SL83168 element. For 496-9846 a single supplier listing gives HiFi SA 160082, and that we treat as a lead rather than a cross. Cross numbers are a starting point: check the three dimensions and the shape against the element you remove, because a panel element that is 20 mm out in any direction will not seat in the housing.