Having some Ford Taurus fans that I was going to install in my jeep, I was looking around for some information on using one of these on a 3rd gen Dakota. The best write up that I found was on this site - here, if the writer is still on-site, I'd like to thank him for dealing with most of the problem solving for this project.

Although this fan uses a lot of power to start on high speed (short duration in-rush of around 90 amps), they do pull a LOT of air in either speed, they're cheap & readily available from almost any auto scrap yard and with the proper controller, it will give a few extra HP that can be used in the drive train as well as save some fuel.

 

Theres a much better fan than that to use, and fits even more closely in size to the stock Rad. Look up the Chevy HHR fan. Do a forum search for HHR E-Fan.

 

I'm actually going to switch to a Taurus or Mark 8 fan and Spal from the HHR/derale if I can verify fitment with a the Hemi motor in place.

I have mixed feelings about the HHR fan. It seems to move a lot of air, but I can't seem to get away from the half way mark since these hotter days started showing up. It certainly fits better but the fan opening is too small to let natural air flow through. So basically, the fan is always on and is relied on 100% to cool the rad.. even on the freeway.

The Mark 8 fan is a big fan, and has a high amp motor. The Taurus fan uses the same motor but is a smaller fan. The HHR is both a smaller fan, and a smaller motor, with a more restrictive shroud.

The Mark 8/Taurus fan is 2 speed and a lot of people have said they keep it on low and have no problems.

It's true that even a used Mark 8 fan is pricier than a new HHR fan, and easy to setup with a simple derale controller and single speed, and for some it may suffice. For me, not so much.

 

I am intrigued by the idea of using a newer assembly, but I do have a spare Taurus unit that I can play around with, so when I have things apart to some extent, when I'm installing the body lift, I'll try a quick fitment to see how much difference there is and how much work I really need to invest. I haven't decided whether to use a controller or to use some relays, thermal switch, and rotary switch for function selection.

 

I'm just not comfortable using a hhr fan since it's designed for a small engine. Hearing about it having to run 100% of the time to keep the truck at the half way point would make me very very nervous. I haven't had the time to get everything all in, the mark 8 fan is a BIG fan and I think will cool the motor no problem. Taurus fans also work very well, I've had them in other vehicles. I think I used the one from a SHO not a regular Taurus.

 

I've been doing some research on radiator fan controllers and don't find much. I see Hayden offering a low power kit that doesn't offer any bells & whistles, Spal, that has some relay kits, thermal switches, and their PWM controller. At first take, the pulse width modulation controller looks pretty good, but I ran across some constraints that indicate that this may not support fans (like the Taurus fan) that pull more than 30 amps - I don't know if this is a limitation of their older controllers or whether it also applies to the V3 and might give them a call sometime if I'm still interested in their product. There's also the Delta Current Control that appears to put some pretty good products together - both relay and PWM configurations and are a bit cheaper than Spal. The Delta products certainly have the amperage covered, but they don't seem to incorporate the use of the vehicles temperature sensor but have a probe of their own to use with the selected controller. I've noticed that there are quite a few people that have used the Spal controller in their installations & would be interested interested in any comments or suggestions.

 

I used derale that uses it's own push-in temp sensor. If/when I upgrade, I will be doing a DDC with a ford fan. I was just reading this thread here;
http://www. dodge talk .com/forums/showthread.php?t=355523

makes me wish I had read more before I spent the money on the derale and HHR.

 

FrenicX, thanks for the information. The link doesn't appear to work, but I did a quick search on www.*********.com and found a thread on the DDC, but in searching for a DDC rad fan controller, I get references to DCC (Delta Current Control) or to DDC which is refers me to Honeywell HVAC products. I'm assuming you're referring to the Delta Current Control products, there are quite a few very positive comments on both their old and new product lines.

PS. I see that this site wipes out addresses to other dodge forums.

 

Yea, ********* and dodgeforum don't like eachother. I had to add spaces to that link for it to appear so you just gotta copy/paste and remove the spaces. Makes it a pain when you're browsing on a phone or something. They also wipe out the word ******* "v i r t u a l" for some crazy reason.

 

:O This worries me now about using the fan I got lol.
I only have a 3.7L So a smaller fan I dont think would hurt me as much as the 4.7L guys. I figured Id make my own shroud/mount of Lexan for the fan I have. Maybe cut a few Holes thru it so some airflow has a straight pass thru.