Wanted to post what I did this weekend. I've had an overheating issue with my Durango since I bought it. I developed a leak in the core of the radiator that was in the truck when I bought it, so I replaced it with one from a local radiator shop. The summer after I replaced it, my overheating issue was much worse. I also know that from the factory, if you have a truck with the tow package, you got the heavy duty radiator. I have never been able to find a heavy duty radiator, maybe Dodge still makes one, but who knows how expensive that would be. Griffin makes a drop in replacement radiator with double 1.25" rows for almost $900 without a trans cooler and almost $1,000 with it. Well this is my project truck, and I have a company truck to drive, and my wife drives my daily. So I took advantage of the opportunity and bought a Griffin universal. The part number is "1-25242-XS" it's a very similar width, but not as tall. But it's all aluminum and double 1" rows. So far the results are good, but time in Oklahoma summers will tell. I let the truck get up to operating temperature and let my Taurus fan kick on. I disconnected the low speed circuit, because I need to order a higher temperature sending switch, and I just wanted to see what it would do cycle wise. The high speed fan came on and I grabbed my temp gun immediately and was already showing a 40 degree drop across the radiator. Within about 45 seconds the radiator core had dropped 30+ degrees and the fan shut off. With my old radiator, even in 30 degree weather my high speed would still run for almost 3 minutes before it would shut off if I had the low speed circuit disconnected. So its already a massive improvement.

So heres the build process.

The radiator:





I started off by building the lower mounts. I have some 14 gauge 1X2 steel rectangle tube for another project I still haven’t gotten to. It was about 1/16" (give or take 1/32") skinnier than the aluminum mounting rails that run above and below the radiator core. It made this project tremendously easier than I was expecting. I got some 1/2" bolts, either 3 or 3 1/2" long, can’t remember which, and welded them to the bottom of the 1X2 that I cut and notched for the radiator side tanks. The 1/2" bolts have nuts and washers and sit in the factory rubber grommets I cut off the old radiator and sat down in the holes in the lower support just like the factory radiator.











I then built the upper mount. Again, all 1X2, with one really interesting cut and weld to reuse the drivers side factory top mount. Passengers side was a little more difficult due to the radiator cap, so I did something different to that side that you will see in the finished picture.






Had a really rainy Saturday so I spent some time making the fan mounts since the truck was outside and unable to be moved. This is the Taurus fan Ive had for more than a year (some of you may remember the thread I have up somewhere about why my Durango won’t stop overheating no matter what I did, one of those things being, getting this Taurus fan). Its just some 3/4" aluminum flat bar. I used the original "speed nuts" or whatever you would call them. There were 8 on the factory radiator. 4 for the fan shroud, 4 for the factory transmission cooler. I reused 7 out of the 8. They are 6mm X 1.00 threads. Picked up some bolts of various lengths to make sure I had what I needed.








I had some 1/8"X3" rubber sheet that I bought on Amazon for this project. Cut off an appropriate length, drilled a hole in the center for water to drain, and 6 around the edges for rivets (I know, I know, but I don’t have a punch set to make perfect holes in rubber) and covered the big gaping hole on the bottom of the Taurus fan shroud.








Then it was on to the transmission cooler. I have an aftermarket aluminum one. Would have been a little harder to mount, but much easier to plum. I decided to keep the factory cooler hooked up and save the aluminum one for maybe a power steering cooler somewhere down the line to replace my factory one that sits right up next to the block. From factory, the cooler is mounted horizontally according to the brackets. I decided to change that to vertical because it would save time and effort among other things. I cut off one mounting leg altogether, and cut one to length to fit just right vertically. I also bought a double flare tool from Harbor Freight. Its for Aluminum, Brass, and I think Copper. Be weary, I didnt check until I already bought it. These lines are STEEL. Put a magnet to them, I was surprised. I cut each line right before the 4th bend away from the cooler, did bubble flares on both, and swapped the lines between ports because the cooler is actually in backwards compared to how it was from the factory. When all was done, the lines pop out right under the radiator next to the factory lines. (BTW, I know I should have a cooler in the radiator, especially for winter time to help keep the fluid up to temp. But it's $100 more for a built in cooler, a piece of cardboard to stick in front of it=free.)








Here are some pictures of everything in place, and one finished picture. In most of these pictures, you can see how I used the factory thread inserts for the fan mounts. I have a temporary flexible lower radiator hose. Im going to go to the salvage yard and take measurements of the 00-03 (or 01-03?) Durangos lower outlet because Im pretty sure they raised it up considerably, so I might be able to just buy a factory one for that Durango W/5.9 and be good to go. For the passengers side upper mount, I used two 6mm Heim Joints butted up together to still allow movement but hold the radiator in place. The transmission hoses were cut just before their factory fittings, they go on to the 3/8 steel line perfectly and clamp right up.













I hope this wasn’t too boring of a read, and I hope it can help someone in the future. With my overheating problem, Im 99.9% sure it was that radiator, so I should be good to go now. I ruled out everything else, but time will tell!

Enjoy

 

Good luck with it, but I suspect you've got more going on with poor cooling than will be fixed with a high-end radiator. I have the tow package and am on the OEM radiator at 120,000 miles and can tow 6000 lbs in 95 deg desert heat with the A/C on and no cooling problems. I know, good for me, so what. I'm just saying the designed system works if all the components are right.

 

Nice work. I enjoyed the read.

I've got the 4.7 with tow pkg/heavy duty cooling which was also leaking when I got the truck. I suspect it was the same/similar OEM radiator in your 360, with maybe a difference in hose placement. OEM is 1.5" - two core (1.5" being the combined thickness of both cores). I was able to locate a drop in unit that was single core, but that single core was 1.63", which was thicker than the two-core. Not sure how that equals out, two core being much more area anyway, but it cools great. I've towed cars in the middle of summer with no noticeable rise in temp. I kept the clutch fan.... I like it's reliability and cooling power.

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...-radiator.html

You should be good, no cardboard needed. This is how the OEM cooler is mounted in my truck. The fact that you have it strapped down on the radiator, means that heat will transfer to it. I'd only be worried if it was standing alone.

 

Well... I guess I didn't really clarify. I never had that radiator that you do. And I may have been able to find a drop in that worked, but this is my project truck and I wanted a beefier radiator anyway. I got the truck 5 years ago and it had a single core radiator and I don't know how thick it was as some scrapper came and stole it off the side of the house. The one I put on it was 1.25" and single core and it never did the job. Maybe I could have gotten a drop in for a decent price, but then I would still have the plastic tanks and everything else. For the price I got the radiator for and a weekend of build time, I can't complain. I already know it's cooling better, and should absolutely be sufficient for summer.

List of things I've checked over the years just for giggles and grins:

Heater core is good, I replaced it and it's not clogged. Thermostat is good. Overheating issue never changed no matter what thermostat I had in there, even once with no thermostat. Water pump is fine, it works great. Took the thermostat out and started the truck for just a second and water was spewing out like a geyser. Lower Hose wasn't collapsing. I could dump some water on the radiator and the truck would come down from 230° to 190° in a couple minutes. Couldn't really be an airflow issue either. Fan clutch worked but would still over heat at idle, and would over heat very slowly if I was doing 75mph or more on the highway no trailer or anything. But a little trickle of water on the radiator would cool the truck very quickly. Below 80° out the truck would never overheat. The only thing I could come up with after that is the radiator wasn't efficient enough.

But time will tell. I could be wrong, though I hope I'm not because I fear what it could be if it's not any of the stuff I've mentioned

 

All good to know. I'm sure there probably is some decent drop in that would work just fine for me. But being myself, sometimes just wanna do something over the top and different

They're similar radiators, but if I'm not mistaken, I think the lower outlet is higher up on yours. Which mine now is too with this radiator so I need a different hose for it. Also, your radiator cap is in the upper hose isn't it? 98-99's were on the radiator still which makes them a little tricky to bleed all the air out of the system.

On to that cooler location, I sure like it a lot better. Looks to be almost 4X the size of my factory cooler. Is that in front of the condenser? Or between the condenser and radiator like mine? I may grab one of those from a salvage some day. Or maybe not. Wanna ditch the automatic at some point anyway.

 

Yes, rad cap is on the upper hose and yes, the ATF cooler is at the bottom in front of the condenser (circled yellow in the original pic). The lower position sucks in more air from the bumper opening, I suppose. And yeah, it's pretty big. They really beefed up the cooling for the Dakota tow pkg. The PS has a cooler too. I suppose it's the same on the Durango? I like to think it's why the 545RFE is still switchin flawlessly at nearly 300K.... that and the drain plug I installed for 25K drains. Here are a few more pics of the radiator setup.





With the shroud removed, you can see that I also have an electric fan, as well as the clutch fan.




This is the CSF that I now have.... at a hundred bucks, I wasn't too worried about the plastic end caps. I just needed that good cooling capacity and it was cheaper than the skinny crap they sold in the parts store.

 

Yeah I like how the trans cooler is in front of the condenser. Mine is between the two and the radiator sticks out behind the core support, as mine was too early for the electric supplemental fan.

And yeah I went looking in the salvage yard today. The 2000+ Durangos are set up just like yours. Seems dodge finally wised up and beefed everyone up the way they should have been originally. Also your radiator outlet is higher than I was thinking. Figured that out today too. But I think a 2000+ Dakota with a 3.9 has a hose I can use. Gonna cut and bend a coat hanger to the dimensions I need and go hunting at a parts store. So far no overheating and I haven't bled the system yet, still have air in the upper hose. Don't wanna bleed it until I get the correct lower hose on and we'll see how she does when it gets hot

 

I'm interested in some updates to see how this thing performs in the summer.

 

Absolutely. Got a lower hose for a 2001 Dakota. Looks promising. Have to cut it and hope it fits. It should though. I can always drop or raise the radiator a little bit using my lower mounts if I have to. I will keep everyone posted as temps go up and I start loading it down in the summertime.

 

Not sure if you're aware, but if you can't find one with the exact bend you need, you can join two with this coupler, which should open up some options. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...RoCUYUQAvD_BwE