As some of you know I had originally gotten a desert cooler (4 core) and found that it was too thick. So I sent it back in exchange for a standard 3 core radiator which arrived yesterday. I was dying early this morning waiting for the sun to rise so I could start.
Everything went ok but I first realized that I had to remove the spacer between the fan and the pulley to move the fan back (towards the engine) in order to clear the radiator. Don't worry I had the space. The fan did not hit the balancer. Down went the new radiator when suddenly the fan blade was hitting the lower horizontal portion of the radiator frame. How can this be ?
One thing came to my attention is that the new radiator is much taller than my original 2 core.
Thus the top is sticking up 1.75" higher that the radiator frame support. My current radiator is flush. This I assume is not an issue.
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http://www.cmaynard.com/Truck/IMG_1037.JPG[/img]
Going back to the problem of the fan hitting the radiator, it seem that the new raditor is thicker that my current. This is apparent looking at the sides of both radiators (seen below). The side "L" brackets (that has the 3 bolt holes) on my current radiator are moved as far back as possible, whereas these brackets on the new radiator are more centered. I assume the mfg realized that they can move the radiator forward only so far until it makes contact with the radiator frame support. Thus the remaining portion of the radiator can only go back towards the engine. Look how far right the angle bracket sits on the left (original) radiator as compared to the right (new) one.
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http://www.cmaynard.com/Truck/IMG_1040.JPG[/img]
At this point I think I'll visit a local radiator shop to see if they can put a 3 core in my radiator frame. If so, then I'm going to send the new radiator back. If not then I might have them detach and relocate the angled brackets on the new radiator (moving the radiator forward), realizing that I might have to cut out the upper horizontal portion of the radiator support bracket.
Boy, this has not been easy.....
