RV(tow rig) cooling

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
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Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
My RV, a 1973 Dodge with a 440 has some cooling issues. Had a leak, took it to a radiator shop to be fixed. I think while it's out I am gonna replace the water pump, clutch fan and thermostat.
Going up the hard pull hills is the only time it runs warm. Not hot, just warm, except when I lost all of my coolant!

A few ideas I have been thinking about are:

Adding an electric fan to help when pulling the hills.
Do you think this would help or hinder? I think it would help while going slower(hills) but would it hinder on the open road?

The trans cooler sits out away from the radiator.
Should I mount it to the radiator?

Stock water pump or high flow?

What temp thermostat should I use?
 
I would say ask about a 4-5 core radiator too? I remember putting one of those in Big Orange when I was having overheating issues.

I would say if you have the ability to keep the radiators vs the other coolers further apart you will be better off.

Electric fan..not sure that will help at all on the highway / might hinder but on the hills since you are only doing say 30-40mph up the hill vs the normal 55+ it should increase the volume of air coming thru.

I think I would start with either a much larger radiator and see if that fixes it before spending more cash on the elec fan. (Cash better spent on an oversize radiator imho)

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9614650

Talks about oversize 5 core radiators there - from a Caddy 500 big block. I guess yours may already be 5 core / if so having it rodded out prob will help a ton.
 
I'd install a set of gages so you can see for sure whats going on. Warm vs Hot is hard to compare with out numbers... 180deg T-stat prolly fine. Also just the new parts are probably a good start. Make sure your coolant is good/fresh.

Also does the trans cooler pass into the radiator also ? I larger trans. cooler may not hurt possibly a trans gage to see what temp its at. Its possible that on the bigger hills the trans is just pumping more heat into the rad than it can get rid of that quickly.

I'd think with a good mechanical fan/clutch you should be ok with that.
 
Not sure how many core the original is. But it's big and heavy.
Yes the trans goes through the radiator, not sure if it's before or after. Already a big cooler on it.
The only time it gets up in temp is the big hills. I usually run the heater to help out. Cools back down fast when I start down hill. Biggest question really is will the electric fan allow enough air to flow through it when not in operation.
Mechanical gages is in the plan at some point. SO I will know what the actually temp is.
Going up the steep hills it kicks down into second gear and tachs up to around 4 grand. Lot of revolutions, lots of explosions in the cylinders!
 
What kind of fan is on there now? Stock? Is there a shroud between the radiator and fan? If it's not getting too hot, just try the simple stuff first. I've got some water wetter you can try as well.
 
I have an aux. elect fan mounted on the outside of my radiator as a just in case it needs it back up I assume. It does not appear to hinder the air flow at all as I did not have to use it on the way back from Harlan
 
I bet when the tranny gets hot going uphill there is a ton of thermal transfer to the radiator. i would put a big ass dedicated tranny cooler on there and plug the tranny holes in the radiator.
 
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