Copasetic
1/2 ton status
I know this has been covered before but I thought I would touch on the subject a little. Especially since it's getting cold now and we are thinking about keeping a little warmer in our rigs. I'll try to get some pics later and post them up but just wanted to give a run down of what all I've done so far, planning to do, and what, if anything, else I would probably need to look at.
I noticed a residual leak on my radiator in between the upper heater hose and the upper most transmission line. It wasn't spraying but leaking just enough to keep it damp on the radiator. About the same time I'd been noticing the faint smell of coolant then my windshield would fog up. So I've heard the heater core isn't that bad of a job but OMG what a PITA it is. Especially if this is your first time doing it.
Since I had these 2 problems and I have 2 electric fans I want to install, I decided to overhaul the entire cooling system. Couldn't hurt anything right? I mean my truck only has 85k on the clock but hell it's 18 years old and everything on it is from the factory, or it looks that way anyways.
Since I'm not having any cooling problems I went with a stock radiator from O'Reilley's. I bought a new one since having my old one fixed and cleaned out was going to run just about as much as a new one. Not to mention that my stock one is starting to rust pretty good on the bottom so I was eventually going to need a new one anyways. The new rad is all aluminum but it has plastic tanks on it. It looks pretty good but don't all new parts look good?
I got it swapped out fine and made sure that it was grounded good to help prevent electrolysis from eventually destroying my new radiator and heater core. I took the clutch fan off and while I was at it, I replaced the water pump, new serp belt, t-stat and got a new t-stat housing with one to be able to put my temp sensor for my fans in. I got new upper and lower rad. hoses and heater hoses as well but since I went with a different t-stat housing, I had to take the upper hose back and get one of those universal ones because of the angle of the neck on the new housing put a kink on the stock hose. Got all of that in and buttoned up and we're good to go. I'm also going to install a tranny cooler and a remote tranny spin on filter after Christmas but that part can wait.
I mocked up my new fans and the width is almost perfect! I'm going to attach it to the sides of my core support with some 3/4 angle aluminum and that should be good. The main fan I'm running off of the temp switch and I have a manual switch in the truck to turn the aux fan on and off if need be. I mounted the fans flush with the top of the rad (they already are in a shroud, they came off a 98-02 dodge) and I have about maybe 4-6 inches of radiator showing at the bottom. I figure that would help keep the fans out of water/mud a little more than if I were to have mounted them any lower.
So now I moved onto the heater core. Maybe I should have waited till I've had more rest, with me being on nights this week and all, because I got so frustrated with it, it wasn't even funny. I followed the write up from CK5 and went to work on it. I didn't have to drop my inner fender being I have the body lift but I did have to use a swivel for the one speed nut under the blower motor. After I tackled that I moved to the inside. I found out my carpet was soaked so now I have to let the dry. I got everything disconnected and finally got the dang box out. Looks like they would have made these things a little easier to get to but I reckon it's job security. So all I have left to get the core out is what looks like 2 more screws on the back side that holds the core cover on and I'll be set. The last 2 are smaller than the other 2 I took off and I can't find a socket in my array of junk to fit it so off to O'Reilley's I go again in the morning.
I'm hoping I can get this thing back together tomorrow because I go on my long break from work when I get off in the morning and I don't want to have to deal with all of this on my days off. Plus my oldest daughter (3 years old) has been asking me to drive it to take them to day care since it's been down. Oh yeah, I still have to run the rest of the wires for my fans also. Looks like I have my work cut out for me but I'm hoping the hard part is over with. If anyone has any input, tips, tricks, or suggestions please feel free to throw them my way! I'll try to get some pics taken and put up when everything is done. No need to take "before" pics since everything is stock and came off pretty well for the most part. I did find some rust in the corner under my battery tray. I have some stuff I can put on it that's supposed to stop it from rusting any more. We'll see.
I noticed a residual leak on my radiator in between the upper heater hose and the upper most transmission line. It wasn't spraying but leaking just enough to keep it damp on the radiator. About the same time I'd been noticing the faint smell of coolant then my windshield would fog up. So I've heard the heater core isn't that bad of a job but OMG what a PITA it is. Especially if this is your first time doing it.
Since I had these 2 problems and I have 2 electric fans I want to install, I decided to overhaul the entire cooling system. Couldn't hurt anything right? I mean my truck only has 85k on the clock but hell it's 18 years old and everything on it is from the factory, or it looks that way anyways.
Since I'm not having any cooling problems I went with a stock radiator from O'Reilley's. I bought a new one since having my old one fixed and cleaned out was going to run just about as much as a new one. Not to mention that my stock one is starting to rust pretty good on the bottom so I was eventually going to need a new one anyways. The new rad is all aluminum but it has plastic tanks on it. It looks pretty good but don't all new parts look good?
I got it swapped out fine and made sure that it was grounded good to help prevent electrolysis from eventually destroying my new radiator and heater core. I took the clutch fan off and while I was at it, I replaced the water pump, new serp belt, t-stat and got a new t-stat housing with one to be able to put my temp sensor for my fans in. I got new upper and lower rad. hoses and heater hoses as well but since I went with a different t-stat housing, I had to take the upper hose back and get one of those universal ones because of the angle of the neck on the new housing put a kink on the stock hose. Got all of that in and buttoned up and we're good to go. I'm also going to install a tranny cooler and a remote tranny spin on filter after Christmas but that part can wait.I mocked up my new fans and the width is almost perfect! I'm going to attach it to the sides of my core support with some 3/4 angle aluminum and that should be good. The main fan I'm running off of the temp switch and I have a manual switch in the truck to turn the aux fan on and off if need be. I mounted the fans flush with the top of the rad (they already are in a shroud, they came off a 98-02 dodge) and I have about maybe 4-6 inches of radiator showing at the bottom. I figure that would help keep the fans out of water/mud a little more than if I were to have mounted them any lower.
So now I moved onto the heater core. Maybe I should have waited till I've had more rest, with me being on nights this week and all, because I got so frustrated with it, it wasn't even funny. I followed the write up from CK5 and went to work on it. I didn't have to drop my inner fender being I have the body lift but I did have to use a swivel for the one speed nut under the blower motor. After I tackled that I moved to the inside. I found out my carpet was soaked so now I have to let the dry. I got everything disconnected and finally got the dang box out. Looks like they would have made these things a little easier to get to but I reckon it's job security.
So all I have left to get the core out is what looks like 2 more screws on the back side that holds the core cover on and I'll be set. The last 2 are smaller than the other 2 I took off and I can't find a socket in my array of junk to fit it so off to O'Reilley's I go again in the morning. I'm hoping I can get this thing back together tomorrow because I go on my long break from work when I get off in the morning and I don't want to have to deal with all of this on my days off. Plus my oldest daughter (3 years old) has been asking me to drive it to take them to day care since it's been down. Oh yeah, I still have to run the rest of the wires for my fans also. Looks like I have my work cut out for me but I'm hoping the hard part is over with. If anyone has any input, tips, tricks, or suggestions please feel free to throw them my way! I'll try to get some pics taken and put up when everything is done. No need to take "before" pics since everything is stock and came off pretty well for the most part. I did find some rust in the corner under my battery tray. I have some stuff I can put on it that's supposed to stop it from rusting any more. We'll see.
