Simple stupid and asked a 1000 times Im sure. Please forgive me for asking, for some reason, I cant search the forums because loading the pages from the forum takes forever. I mean 3 minutes easy and after 3-10 page refreshes. So sorry.

PLus I also like getting into a conversation on what I am trying to do instead of looking at a thread from 3 years ago with no one left to ask questions to.

If this thread annoys, please ignore.

Efan, what type, model, and efficiency are available to us.

I used to have a dakota with the 5.2 and used a efan from a Lincoln Mark VIII for cooling, which was the most recommended at the time for CFM's. I remember a couple times watching the temps rise while hauling way more than the Dakota should be hauling. If the ram is a 1500 then the Dakota must have been a 1998 Dodge Dakota 500, but I sure had 5000lb of shale in a trailer and hauled it up a 8% grade everytime I left the landscape nursery. Great tough little badazz truck.

So my question is, within reliability and towing capacity, what has proven effective at cooling the beast as a daily driver and still keeping the towing capacity without being forced to watch the temps rise. I love the idea, the efficiency of a efan, the silence of a monster truck without the whirl that comes from under the hood from the fan clutch and moving fan, but refuse to assist in the creation of failed head gaskets. I do not want that much work in my future, unless I can add it to my sig.

 

Some folks go to the local pick 'n' pull and get a fan off a Taurus or Lincoln Mark VIII and then get a controller from Advance or some parts house. I got a Flex-A-Lite Black Magic Extreme 180 kit which included a controller. Many of us have gone that route, even though it's more expensive. I think the Flex-A-Lite 183 has a two-stage controller, so if less cooling is needed, it doesn't run as hard.

 

I've got about $150 total in my rig, and I'd stack it up against any out there, in that it does what it is 'sposed to do without issue..

I bought two 16" s-blade procomp 2750cfm fans off of eBay for $15ea.. I mounted them in a push/pull configuration and retained the factory shroud.. they overlap in the center of the radiator about 3~4"..

I bought a flex-a-lite two channel controller from Summit for $45.. I bought 8' of 10 gauge wiring, 6' of 12ga wiring, wiring shroud, heat shrink, solder, two 40a fuse housing/fuses, and one 70a relay from Advanced..

I pull directly off the battery for power- fused after the battery terminal, relayed, and fused again- all across 10ga wire, and across the top of the radiator bracket to behind the passenger headlight- where I mounted the controller.. from the controller, I wired a fan per channel using the 12ga wire..

The only part I don't like about my rig: I mounted the fans using the supplied zip ties.. I didn't know if I would be able to trust them, so I wanted to keep the rig as stock as possible so I could easily return it to that state should the efans not work like I expected.. I had to flip one of the blades the other way, and reverse polarity on the dc motor so it would become a pusher.. they mounted right up..

I've never looked back.. this is easily one of the best mods I've done for my truck.. a matter of fact, just to explain how happy I am with this mod, I'll show you my top five mods:

1- gears 4.56:1 @ around $1200
2- efan, @ $150
3- 1.7:1 rocker rollers, @ $350
4- SCTbyHF @ $375
5- FI Air-Gap @ $600

check out those prices, huh? the efans were a great little bump in torque off idle (exactly where you need it for towing/hauling).. They pull air no matter what direction your driving (no more near overheating due to long reverse with loaded trailers).. they cut into fuel consumption in stop-n-go city driving (there is only fuel savings in stop-n-go, at speed they don't even need to run)..

I could have gotten out of spending likely $75 of the $150 I put into them, but I like to over engineer crap- better safe than sorry I figure.. plus, I look at the fans themselves as consumable- likely replaced every two to three years @ $30 or so for both.. knowing now what I didn't know then, I would have fabricated my own shroud and had the fans mounted to it instead of the radiator, AND, I would invest in a Dakota controller.. you can program soft starts with that thing, and reserve the second fan for full blast operation when it gets to a certain temperature.. it costs anywhere from $150 to $250 all by it's lonesome, but it is worth it in my opinion..

anyway, hope this helps..

 

Here is the Flex A Lite that is a direct bolt on to the 03-08 Rams:

http://www.amazon.com/Flex-a-lite-18.../dp/B004GWFDOQ

If you google that part number quite a few threads on other forums come up showing installs of it. Seems a like a great item that is a fairly straight forward install.

I am on the fence about adding one. I never tow, the hottest summer temps we see are typically at most 100 but average the low 90's. And i am not trying to scrape up every ounce of HP from my truck as possible. So the only real reason i could see buying one is for the savings in fuel. But the cost of the fan and related materials to install it is about 4 tank fulls of fuel. So i have not yet been able to justify it. And while i am sure it's less load on the engine then the stock engine driven fan, but 18 amps for this electric fan is going to put a load on the alternator as well that will impact fuel economy too.

 

Mark VIII shroudless w/ big fuse holder and variable controller hooked via radiator fin probe. Brought it all from a forum and after some tweaking, its been working out great. Switch over was mostly clearing up the front to make way for 6.1 manifold.