I had to change my fuel filter in mine today after it started stopping up and cutting out on me. It's been converted to a spin on filter unit. On a side note, how often do most of yall have this issue? Mine sat up with some old fuel in it for a while and the tank was very rusty and had gunk in it. I cleaned it best I could and changed filter. Probably change it again soon though to make sure I got everything out. That's the reason for asking how often yall usually change/clean the fuel filter.
15K miles or 3 years for most cars. Heavy duty trucks have larger filters to offset the increased fuel requirements. I still couldn't see it needing to be changed any more frequently. Sounds like you either have contamination or a different issue. The fuel filters also act as a polisher, as it continuously goes through the filter, then dumps back into the tank... Continuously cleaning it over and over again.
What spin on are you using? It's possible that it's way too small for the application or can't flow enough.
Fuel flow is inversely proportional to its filtration ability. The greater the filtration capability, the less fuel will flow. A 20 micron absolute filter might work, but the same size 2 micron filter might not as it restricts too much.
I'm a big fan of parallel filtration with 2 filters on these trucks, as it increases flow capability, and each filter will get used up relatively equally, because once one starts getting clogged, the fuel will flow through the path of least resistance which is the other filter.
I use FB1311 base with Baldwin BF7587 filters.