Well I have a bad radiator and plan on changing it out myself, but I seem to have a different setup on my truck, since I can't find any threads with good instruction on removal of the radiator. They all make it sound so easy with about 6 or 7 steps, but I have a tranny cooler and the a/c condenser mounted to the front of my radiator and don't see any easy way to get it out. The bolts for both the condenser and the tranny cooler are located in behind the bumper and I don't want to have to recharge the a/c just to replace the radiator.

I downloaded the FSM on the truck and the instructions in the service manual are over simplified and don't mention removing the tranny cooler or the condenser coil. I am trying to figure out if I will have to remove the front bumper in order to make it happen.

Does anyone have experience with the process that can give me some direction? I might be able to get the bolts out without removing the bumper, but it will be a difficult task.

 

It will be much easier to take the front bumper off its like 6 or 8 bolts and its really easy just if you have fogs remember to unplug them first. I have had my bumper off so many times its easy takes like 5 min

 

I looked at the options for doing this one myself and I would say the only way to do the job would be to remove the front bumper. I went through this last night and debated on how to proceed and ended up with "analysis paralysis" and basically stopped the whole replacement process. My biggest problem is that I have to leave tomorrow afternoon to pickup my daughter from school which will require a 6 hour drive each way while pulling a 12 foot trailer, so I need to have the truck ready to go.

I bailed on doing the radiator myself, even though I have done it twice before with other vehicles. The local Dodge dealer wanted $450.00 for ther radiator plus $180 to $250 to put the new one in the vehicle. I asked if I could just buy a radiator and then have them install it, since they could get my truck in today and they agreed to do it.

I have never heard of a dealer making this type of consession so they must be hurting for service business at this time. I ended up picking up the radiator at Autozone for $180.00 and the Dodge Dealer will do the replacement this afternoon while I am at work. I like turning wrenches but with the short timeline and no room for mistakes I decided to let someone else bust thier knuckles on the vehicle. It kills me to pay someone else to do the work I could probably do myself, but sometimes you just have to detemrine the value of your time and figure whether or not it's worth paying someone else to make it happen. In this case I will help fuel the economy by paying for labor instead of putting in my own sweat equity.

 

Yeah I know how it goes I had my local mechanic do my water pump cause I was leaving the next day on a 300 mi trip and I didnt want to waste my time trying to get it done and then my luck I would break something plus he only charged 65.00 to do it(i bought the pump)

 

Well I got a call back from the Dodge dealer this afternoon with bad news. Apparently thier mechanic punctured my A/C Condenser coil when he was installing my new radiator, so they are putting a new one on at thier expense.

At this point I am glad I didn't try to rush through the job to get it done before I left town tomorrow or I might have done the same thing. As it stands, when I get it back tomorrow I will have a new radiator and a new A/C condenser coil. With any luck they will puncture the oil cooler in the morning and they will have all been replaced!

My old truck has 158K miles on it and had the original radiator. Hope I get that kind of mileage out of the new aftermarket version.

 

If it was me I would tell them hey I need my truck(tell them your reason and that you need to leave asap) so you will need a truck and since they couldnt get yours done they better either do the job for free or give you a new truck to use till you get back :P