To start, It's a 98 with the 360. Clutch fan removed, 2 12" flex-a-lite fans and one 10" flex-a-lite fan in its place. Seems like overkill right? well it gets warm even with those fans... they come on with AC or when it hits about 195-200 degrees. 195 degree t stat. So last summer I had to start driving the Durango again in September (Im in Oklahoma so September is still very hot here) and it would be fine on the highway but anytime I was in the city or traffic jams on the highway, It would climb and climb and climb with no stop. Didnt even help to turn the ac off and run the heater full blast. It would still sit and climb in temp to sometimes 230-240 before I could build up enough speed for it to cool down. I know, really scary temperatures. So in October I checked my antifreeze mixture, which was wayyy more water than coolant somehow, and I pulled the cheap junk murray waterpump from oreillys out, put in an ACDelco I got online as an attempt to possibly flow more coolant through the system, and flushed the entire system. Back in with brand new 50/50. Seemed to help a lot... So its been fine this year so far. Until today. It got a little over 90 today and it climbed to 210 in the slow traffic. It went down to about 195 on the highway though. Also, I don't know why it does this, but when I shut the truck off and come back to it maybe 10 minutes later and start it, Its in the 230-240 range and slowly works back to 210 in about 45 seconds. don't know how okay or bad that is, But Ive never had another truck or car do that so I thought it was worth mentioning.

So... Are the Flex-a-Lite fans just crap and don't pull enough airflow? Or should I find an all aluminum thicker radiator?

I know people do the Taurus fans on the 00-03 Durangos, but I don't know if it will also fit on a 98.

One last thing, The little plastic cover (I guess you would call it) that has clips holding it on the core support that bridges the gap between the core support and the top of the radiator is missing entirely. Don't know if its possible that its pulling enough hot air from the engine bay through that gap to make that much of a difference... But there is that.

 

Did it overheat with the clutch fan, stock setup?

 

It would get a little warm. If it was really hot yes it would overheat in city driving. I replaced the water pump, thermostat and radiator all before the electric fans. The clutch fan was still on with all those new parts and still got too hot. Replaced the heater core right after I got the truck three years ago. I know the temp going down with speed can indicate that I'm not getting enough air at low speeds, but with three electric fans with a shroud to force air across the whole radiator, I don't know how that's possible

 

I installed dual 12 inch fans and works great if you don't use the A/C in city driving and temps over 90 degrees. Temps would reach 220-230 which is too risky. Don't want my heads to crack. Tore out the dual 12's and put back the trusted clutch fan. Used a heavy duty instead of severe duty and HD clutch disengages quickly under cold start. But idling at red lights with outside temps exceeding 90 degrees, the clutch fan will engage when you drive off the light and roar for a bit. Doing its intended job of pulling some serious air to cool down the 5.9. I did the same as you did, all cooling parts are new (radiator, pump, stat, etc) before going with electric fans and did not work well for me.

 

If it's fine when you start moving your fans aren't moving enough air.

 

Thanks for the input on that. If I absolutely have to, I'll put a heavy duty clutch fan back on it and hope that works. But I wanna eliminate all other possibilities because I prefer the electric set up.

Do you still have your clutch fan? I know you do a bit of custom work to yours so I wondered what you though about electric fans. By the way, I got my headlight Idea from your truck, just painted my buckets black
So thank you for that Idea

Your truck looks good!

 

To me, the only reason to eliminate the clutch fan is engine power. But anytime you're at less than WOT, that's a non-issue, just add right foot for more power. The clutch fan 'just works' all the time, no overhead, no headaches.

 

I switched over to the taurus electric fan. The mechanical fan wasn't cutting it in the heat here in SC and at the time a decent fan clutch that wouldn't stay locked up all the time was more than the electric fan swap. 110° outside, ac on, stopped in traffic, and still under 195° water temp.

 

Okay. Was it a late 90s early 2000s taurus? And yours is a 99 right? So you should have the same radiator as me if so. I don't mind going to the salvage yard and pulling some fans if it keeps my truck cool

 

Most people grab the fans from the late 80s early 90s taurus because they're dual speed. The fan is the same width, but not quite as tall as our radiator (98 and 99 should have the same radiator). It still has no problems cooling though. I initially bought a new depo brand fan figuring I'd rather have a new one, but it failed in a year and a week (so just out of warranty). I've been running a junkyard one for the past 4 years now and it's been fine. Some 80s volvos also have the same blades and motor on their fans, but with a bigger shroud if you wanted to do some experimentation.

Here are some pictures of how I mounted mine: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ml#post3052055