Just recently i removed my engine cooling fan and shroud to see if it has any affect during winter driving. I noticed that from a cold engine, the engine came up to temperature about twice as fast. When i checked with AE once, the Engine Oil Temp climbed to 215 and leveled off. Today i was towing a 4100 pound trailer to the junkyard with some stuff on it. I ran in 60t just for safety. The stock coolant temp gauge never budged off normal. However, jockeying around the trailer in the junkyard ran the tranny temp up to 180, from no cooling. As soon as i got rolling again it went back down to 150 in traffic, and 135 on the way home on country roads. By the way, it was 50* today, i plan on reinstalling the fan once temps get to 55* in the spring. I don't recommnd towing without it, however in the winter, i think it is fine to drive without a fan as long as you are driving unloaded.

Just a little feedback for those that are contemplating removing the fan, or just wanted to know.

 

good to know Kris thanks for the tip..how is the MPG ??? and power ???

 

I was wondering the same thing!! More power, or just for faster heat up!!!

 

Sounds like a good idea for you folks that have somewhat constant weather. Here in NC I would be pulling and reinstalling at least once a week. We are going from mid 60s one day to low 20s the next night. So I guess my fan will remain in place. Good info non the less.

 

Put a small electric on there with a switch so if you get stuck in traffic you won't fry....

 

Do you think just taking the shroud off would help about the same, with MPG..

 

Well my truck doesn't really make any power so to speak of, but i do know it's more responsive. Like putting out the driveway when the fan is cold, it accelerates smoother when going down the road under normal throttle. Don't measure MPG because i don't wanna know. I'd like to do electric fans but funds are spent other places as of now!

 

Too bad. I was kinda curious about the MPG's. Not that I could ever use it since it was 82 today, but just one of those interesting facts.

Thanks for posting your findings.

 

not to hijack, but has anoyone ever put an electric fan on these trucks and did away with the stock setup?

 

I removed my fan for a few month this fall/winter before installing the snow plow and it didn't make one lick of difference in operating temp, MPG or power. BUT it sure made a CPS change easy after the recall unit only lasted 24 hours!!

Whitesdford a few guys have done E-fans on the OBS trucks and I am sure the SD's as well.
One who did a great job on the OBS truck is Caseydudem. Pics are in his gallery.

 

ive ran both of my trucks w/o the fan and did notice that they warmed up quite a bit faster. however i got tired of putting the fan on everytime i needed to tow something so i now just leave the fans on. If i werent doing any towing fan would still be off.

 

I removed my fan a couple months ago when my fan clutch was having an attitude problem. I've pulled a decent load or two with it off when it was about 10 degrees out. I didn't notice any significant difference in temperatures (water temp cycled between 202-210 rolling down the big road). Plus, I still have a quarter of the rad blocked off.

I've researched the electric fan idea a couple times. From what I've heard is that the stock fan is more efficient than running electrics. Also, they say that electrics wouldn't be able to keep during the extremes. I'm in the process of figuring out if its possible to run an air powered fan like the big rigs do.

 

All the fans I've saw on class 8 trucks are air clutch,not air powered

 

Yeah, but they move air..

 

Thats what I meant rbaker. It sounds like it would be a great idea, but pry not worth messin with it.