I'm running the Dak with the mechanical fan, combo shroud and thermostat all removed. Just thought y'all might be curious as I've heard of people removing the clutch fan and not replacing it with anything else.

The only fan now is the little auxiliary electric fan. It's 90 degrees out and I just got off the highway + idled for a while in the driveway. Thought the temp would get higher than this but this is about as high as it got. Got a little project going on and I needed the thermostat out but want a slightly high temp, so this works. I'm keeping the mechanical fan in the truck, just in case. I'm running it this way for 500 mi. Will report back if any issues.

 

Wow thats hot, have you looked at that with a scan tool?

 

No, I trusted the temp gage. LOL. It hasn't blown up so far so all good. I'm at 500 miles today, so moving on to the next step.

 

you might want to have a look at it. On my '02 iirc 210*f was roughly center, 200*f a few clicks left.

I am still running that 180*f stat, fan clutch is shot so I see temps climb up over 204 every now & then. Couple of things I've learned (concluded) since that swap... and using the Hot Shots stiction eliminator... there was a lot of gunk still in the motor when I started daily driving it (with the HSS) to & from work (when the Ram's clutch had enough). The oil that came out on that 1st oil change had me do a double take on it. looked odd. 2nd oil change oil came out as expected (approaching 14k miles now since full time duty). I concluded that there was still gunk in there that the HSSE helped to clear out. It runs awesome except for a sticky fuel pump check valve. every once in a while it will be a slow start. Tossed in some sea foam since it was on the shelf and within a 100 or so miles that problem subsided. Paying a shop to swap the pump because of a seal leak that is at the top of the pump, ON fillups, there is a good amount that comes out so I dont fill it all the way right now. I'd do the pump myself but the strap nuts are welded to the bolts so not sure how that is going to pan out for the shop, they may have a good way to deal with it.

 

TBH, I wanted it running hot for my purposes and considered blocking the radiator with cardboard. I also drove with overdrive off and in a lower gear at times to bring up the revs. Result was I blew out much of the coolant somewhere (see white splash marks all over) , I assume thru the overflow hose which I had in that glass bottle. So it overheated a bit. Anyway, it won't be driven again till the clutch fan, thermostat and shroud are back in.

 

I was out a pick N Pull yard last weekend and came across a cooler I'd been trying to find forever... on a 2nd gen durango there is a 5/8" lined power steering cooler on the front of the cooling stack. I want to grab one (did not grab this one, did not have the right tools to pull it off) and install it on the front of the Dak. Once installed, the plan is to route the return line off the heater core thru that cooler. The goal being to add a bit of cooling capacity (wont be much) and to give a tad bit extra cooling performance. I also learned that the 1st gen Durango e-fan is bigger than the Daks fan, it should be a direct bolt in. took pics of the connector and still need to verify its a direct plug in. The durango fan is 16" vs 15" on the dak... per Rockauto.com's info. I dont plan to use the durango fan however... going to make a shroud and wire in the volvo fan I use on the Ram... (2700 cfm on low iirc from testing) (1) DIY fan test chamber | Cummins Diesel Forum (cumminsforum.com)

If there were interest I can post up pics when I get this done.

 

Oh yeah, do that!