Seriously, I don't know whether to bash you, or tell you good job. What your asking for is such an oddball idea, and honestly, I don't see what the benifits would be on a 1500. Unless your trying to cover up another mechanical issue, you shouldn't have heat control conflicts by moving to a bigger metal radiator.
Now, your comment about guys replying to this thread with very limited mechanical advice, could get you in some hot water. You don't really know what a person's mechanical skill is just by reading a post on a forum.

If you have an issue with me, and would like to discuss it further, I suggest you to take it to PMs and keep it out of the general forums. No one likes seeing a flame war in the open.

 

Over, spurred by your OP. I contacted my radiator builder. Mind you this man builds nothing but competion aluminum and brass radiators stritchly for racing purposes only. He quoted me $1000 for a radiator in the same dimensions of my factory one, $1300 if you wanted it in brass. PM me if you like I will pass along his name and phone number.

 

To begin with, there was no under-the-breath slam. I voiced an opinion as anyone else would say that a leaky radiator is an easy fix by simply replacing it, and if someone is looking for a larger, more powerful cooling, then there must be a mechanical problem being ignored. There is a big difference between ignoring a problem, and not being mechanically competent. People love to delude themselves all the time that "if this was better", or "If I had a bigger" and many times refuse to look at the obvious.


As for my last line about the posts, I don't know how long you have been around forums, but it is a well known fact that when you join a forum, NO ONE likes it when the noobie comes straight out with the first post and say "I need". You got a pm from the forum moderator telling you to introduce yourself. Why? Because that is the polite thing to do. If you walk in to a crowded room, you don't just walk up to people you don't know and start asking stupid questions. If you do, most likely you will be ignored or shunned. I was simply voicing the frustration many of us feel when we have a large amount of people who become members simply to get help to a current problem, then disappear and never help anyone else. Many times, noobs make posts and never check back to see what the suggestions are. If a person joins the "Community" and becomes part of the "community" and behaves as such, then no one here would begrudge helping him or her. There are hundreds of forums on the web, and few are as good as this one. Like Laramie said in another post, (I paraphrase) "we the 2nd gen forum are like a family, we take care of each other". That is a nice sentiment, but it is also what makes this board better than most. I am really surprised that everyone decided to help you as much as they did. With such a defensive attitude, I didn't expect you would get any positive feed back.

 

Thanks for the info. Again, nooB question... the LA motor is the pushrod 5.2/5.9, right? And, yep, mine is leaking on the driver's side as well.

I thank you for better esplaining... where I come from (years and years of many many Jeeps) getting rid of the multi-peice radiator is just good practice, not odd at all. And, while doing it, why not put a bigger one in there? This 1500 will be used to tow with, will be out in the desert in high heat and so forth. I drove the truck 31 miles so far. I don't know if it has any other issues. But since I'm forking over the cash for a radiator, why not try to get one that experiance has taught me lasts longer than the plastic tanked stocker?

As for the mechanical abilities, that's kinda my point. Everyone jumped on me, or so I felt, without knowing me, what I know, or where I'm from. I felt it was undeserved, and in my eyes it reflected poorly on this forum.

I thought flame wars were fun? lol. Naw man, nothing with you personally, again, just felt jumped on.

Thanks man, that's awesome of you to do that. I'd like the contact info if you would, but that's way out of my price range for this rig. Its not out of my price range for other builds though, so I'd like the contact info (I've got a Jeepster that likely will need a custom radiator)

I hear ya on the underlying mechanical issues. But the fact of the matter is, I know me, I know what I do with vehicles. I'm going to be cranking the power up on this thing (no concrete plans yet, but I do on everything) and more horses means more heat. I'm going to be towing with it up and over grades in hot, hot weather. And I'm going to be rattling around the desert with it (Mojave Trail, El Camino Del Diablo, etc...) and want a radiator that in my eyes won't fall apart with the vibrations. For all those reasons I'm looking for a full-on metal one, and if its bigger in the process, why not go for it? I typically don't use the vehicles I own within design parameters, and I do push harder than I should. Even if it was new and radiator started leaking, I'd be looking for an all-metal one.

I actually didn't get a pm about introducing myself, or I would have. I hear ya on the noob needing thing. And, as for becoming part of the community, sure I'd like to. I've got tons of things rattling around on years and years of beating on and fixing vehicles. What I don't have is specifics about this one.

You really blame me for being defensive with these responses I got being my welcome to the "family"? Every other forum I'm on, if a nooB asks even a stupid *** (worse than mine) question, I'll either ask if they've searched, I'll respond to them, I'll search for them and put up a couple of links (then hit em with the ol search nooB), or I'll try to get them to better articulate the what and why of what they are looking for. We've all been nooBs before. Whether it to forums in general or to a specific vehicle, we should all remember what it was like before jumping on the bash the noob bandwagon without knowing where they come from. If you search my SN in google, you'll see I've been around and see what I say is true.

In another note: I'm surprised you guys look to electric fans as pulling more than the engine driven mechanical fan. Unless going to a dual electric setup, I've yet to see a similar-sized electric that moves more than its engine driven counterpart- unless there are other issues there.

 

I don't want to sound like a dick here, but I don't want to beat around the bush either...

You need a PM to remind you to introduce yourself? Thats common courtesy. Even if you had just said "Hey, my name is XYZ and I have a XYZ model year Ram 1500 with the XYZ engine. Here's the issue I've been having, hope you guys can help..."

Thats like saying you need to be reminded to introduce yourself in front of a large conference room full of people, and you're the guest speaker. If you're not introduced by the host, you introduce yourself before you ask a question or present your point.

We aren't necessarily questioning the "newb" question, what we primarily got caught up on was the fact that you just threw the question out there without telling us who you are. This is common practice, as I'm sure you know being an experienced forum guy with Jeeps, with guys who have a problem, join the forum just to get an answer, and as soon as they have a few ideas from responses, leave, never to be heard from again. Thats why we were a little hostile at first, we figured you were another one of "them".

Ditching the clutch fan frees up a few more ponies and a little more MPG in town. Many don't do it right, but if its done right, it'll cool almost if not just as much as the stocker.

 

V10s were available from '93 to '03, although the '93-'98 are somewhat different from later models. Here's a pic of my rad. Although huge in overall size, it is only a 2 row core. My truck runs cold, even in hot SoCal summer weather with the A/C on. Almost never gets above 180 unless I'm towing something and even then it takes some effort.

 

No worries on sounding like a dick... I hear ya. But where should I have put the intro thread? Here? Some other section? Not being argumentative, honestly curious. I came here searching for Ram info, and putting an intro thread in the 2nd gen ram section didn't seem right. I didn't think it'd be such a big deal not posting an intro.

And, I don't question the freeing up of ponies or the MPG (though I've not seen repeatable measureable results... if it frees up ponies, it must get better mpg, right?)

Since I asked the question I found a dual electric fan setup... for $538! lol.. I'll stick with my engine driven fan for now.. I'm not gonna have this truck in water that deep (I hope).

 

Thanks for the pic and the So Cal feedback. Looks like its much the same setup as my 94 (I'm assuming the pic is of your '00 truck?) but it looks like its the crimped plastic-style tanks. Great to have the feedback... if it cools yours it should have no problem on mine. Still leary of the crimps though.

 

Yes, it's my 2000. 103k of SoCal summers, boat towing, off-roading and motocross hauling with not a hint of trouble.

 

You drag the boat out to Havasu, Powell, or what?

One of my dragging the Jeep runs goes right past (sometimes to) Havasu, and then on to NM.

On Edit: what size of boat? How heavy is the boat/trailer combo?