I fully agree with that, but it's not beyond saving.

For the OP - That shroud will need to have a standoff built that will cover more of the radiator, and set the fan off at least 1 inch and preferably 2 inches off the radiator. Anyone with a little metal ability can knock one together, but you may as well just build the whole thing as a single piece and just bolt the fan to it. Or, if you still have the fan shroud for the old clutch fan, you can modify it to accept the electric fan. But, that shroud is not allowing the fan to pull across the entire radiator, and what's worse it's blocking off about 10 to 15 percent of the radiator's face. Air does NOT like making 90 degree turns, and not much air is going to pass through that tiny little space between the shroud and radiator.

Second thing, a fan is only as good as its seal. The condenser needs to be sealed to the radiator around the outer perimeter, and the fan shroud needs to be sealed to the radiator around the outer perimeter. Air follows the path of least resistance, and if it's easier to pull air from the side than through the radiator and condenser then it will.

If it helps, I have a 2008 Colorado with the 2.9L engine. I recently used it to take my 2003 Dakota club cab to the frame shop, and it pulled like a champ at highway speeds in temps around 80+, and the truck with trailer probably weighed about 3200lbs altogether which is pretty close to the Colorado's 3500lb max tow rating. The Colorado's mechanical fan was replaced with a single electric fan which I salvaged from a broken 2006 Silverado dual electric fan setup. It's ugly as sin because I did a slapdash job on it, mainly concerned with function only, but it's damned effective. My truck did not overheat at all on the trip, over hills, at highway speeds, or at slower secondary road speeds. My single fan works great because it's set back from the radiator, not right up against it, yet the fan is sealed to the shroud and the shroud is sealed to the radiator enough that air cannot pass easily between the shroud and radiator.

 

Found part of the issue.

Towed the camper 40 miles in 95° degree 90% humidity weather. Got to around 210-213 coolant temps and 210 on trans temps at peak, averaged 210 coolant and 205 trans temps (SCT dashpaq readings from OBDii). This was with the air off. When the air was turned on, went up to 235 coolant and 225 trans temps b4 I turned the air off (in just 3-5mins) when air turned off I dropped back to 210/205. Checked the condenser with a thermal camera, temps on the hot line and top of condenser were 245°+! It appears my ac system is nuking my trans and radiator. (I'm also doing a new trans cooler to try and get that around 180 instead of 200-210). Buddy of mine gonna vacuum the system and refill and check the drier to see why it's running so damn hot. Found in other forums that the hot side of the condensing line should be no more than 40-50° over ambient temps which would be around 150, not 245.

 

I have the hughes Air gap, it has a spot for a water probe. One came with my fan too I just went lazy and stabbed the other probe into my rad though. :/ lol

 

Is the fan still mounted half an inch from the radiator or has it been moved back so there's room for air to move across the entire radiator? When the fan is on, is it moving a considerable amount of air or not?

 

Agreed. Should be 1.5-2" between the fan blades and the core, and the core should be sealed off, entirely covered.

Right now you are losing 50% of your cooling efficiency to uncovered core, and about 25% more because the fan is running in an unstable vacuum due to too close to the core.