Anything special I need to replace my radiator? Do I need any special tools to take off transmission lines at the bottom?

Thanks!

 

Hey Whitey:

I think that special tool to remove the trans line is on 05 and above. Maybe someone will chime in soon.

All the BEST Whitey!

Sincerely,

Whitey

 

Thanks Whitey, your the BEST!

Whitey

 

Whitey, I recommend picking up a set of line wrenches, you might need them to break your tranny lines loose but even if a regular open end does it those things are nice to have in the tool box. Ace hardware sells Craftsman stuff nowdays if you don't have the last Sears standing in your neighborhood.

 

No special tools needed. Just an open end wrench to remove the transmission lines from the tank. They are just threaded fittings.

 

Careful Whitey; I think he's just puffing you up cuz he wants you to do all the work.

Green, gold, or ELC?

 

Will do THANK YOU!

 

Thank you, it made it 350,000 miles so the crack in the top is expected....I guess!

Thanks again!

 

That's FUNNY! Yeah, I got CAT ELC! Just didn't want any surprises during replacement.

Thanks!

 

You can pull it without removing fan, right?

 

When I replaced mine for the broken/cracked inlet at the top, I pulled the fan. Made it a lot easier to get the new Silla all-aluminum unit in there without damaging it. If you don't pull the fan, I would get someone else to help you out with so little clearance/room for error when lowering your shiny new unit down in there.

But, YES, you should be able to do it without removing the fan.

 

Nice, thank you. We may pull fan so we can clean up area real good after we pull radiator. Mine cracked in the same place. But we got 15 years out of it, I am happy. I bet your aluminum looks good.

 

As long as you have gold in there now you can just drain and fill with ELC. Gold and ELC are compatible. That's your job.

If green in there you'll need an effective flush to get all the green out, since green and ELC are not compatible. Search Gooch's coolant flush. That job sucks so make that Whitey fella do it.

 

Careful when reinstalling the fan. You need to reinstall the big fan bolt, & if you drop the big wrench , you can cause a ding/hole in the radiator core. That aluminum is REALLY thin. I know, my mech buddy dropped the really big crescent wrench. We finished the install and cranked it up. Green juice all over immediately. What the Heck? That equaled another new radiator. Buy & install 2 and keep one. Bad deal. He volunteered to buy the 2nd one as I was paying him for the assistance. He's a stand up guy.
Have another guy underneath to assist. Even then, it happens.

 

IIRC the fan clutch nut is 1-7/8" if you do wind up taking it off. Hopefully that'll save you the trouble I had trying to find a large enough wrench to do the job.