I'm doing the budget repair project "build" for my 1974 f250 4x4/hiboy.....

It's a driving survivor that I'm not trying to restore, just trying to keep it running, running well, but don't want to dump a ton into it.

So, the radiator is toast. Want to replace it.

Curious on advice. Do I buy the Amazon special 3 row or 4 row with electric fans and remove the fan that's on my motor?

Do I buy an aluminum radiator and keep the fan and shroud I've already got?

Here's the radiators I'm looking at:

with electric fans:
3 row with fans:

4 row with fans:

without fans:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/25564846426...RoCZSwQAvD_BwE

Or... is there something different that's just not that much more expensive that I should consider?

 

Check Rockauto and grab a TYC or something. Cheap. Perfectly good.

 

Champion 2 row with 1" tubes will cool better than any 3-4 row. Lifetime warranty to boot.

 

Champion radiators are a great value, just keep the mechanical fan.

 

I just put an Amazon "RadySpeed" aluminum 4 row in my 73 plow truck. It claimed "universal" for all 73-79 F-series, and sure enough when it arrived it was either for a rear flange mount, or they welded the flanges on backwards. In any event the rest of the radiator fit fine and the hoses were the right size and in the right places, so (being out in the sticks and having to wait weeks for everything - even from Amazon) I just cut the flanges and re-attached on the front.

Aside from that mess, which if I lived in the lower 48 I'd have returned it, the radiator works fine, doesn't leak. Up here, that's as good as it gets sometimes.

 

Any electric fan upgrade is gonna be a struggle for the stock alternator. Expect to replace alternator with higher amperage one if going with an electric fan. That means more $$$.

 

Which is not always a bad thing. Upgraded alternators are often a good investment and helpful in other areas.

 

I found that a Ford Taurus alt from 94, 130 amp, bolted right into my old mount. Then you simply follow the forum 3G swap guide for the conversion. It is a great mod and it runs my dual ford Contour fans wonderfully well.

 

Appreciate all the insight and advice.

I was at Oreilly (a block from my house, so my default parts store) and ordering new bits for my drum brakes, and told them I wanted an aluminum radiator, so I was gonna get one somewhere else, the guy said, "ours are aluminum and I can have it here in 3 hours"

Soooo I bought the parts store radiator

The flange for bolting it in is on the wrong side, but that happened to slide down inside the rails - required a slight bit of bending and hammering, but got it FIRMLY in place.

All that said, I would probably go with a Champion next time, but this got the job done this weekend and I get to drive my truck again tomorrow.

Didn't go with Electric fans for now, but the radiator shroud doesn't seem to cover the fan as much as I'd like, so we'll see how things go

Appreciate the insights.

 

What type of mounting system did your original radiator have? Just wondering.
Did it have forward facing flanges as part of the radiator? Or were there two side flanges welded to the core support and the radiator had simple small flange/brackets that bolted to that?
Got pics of the new setup?

 

Original the radiator sat inside the rad support stuff and the flange was on the "back" closest to the engine

The new radiator has the flange on the bumper side - BUT that flanges slid down inside the radiator support with some slight bending and banging - and it's now bolted in (I had to go through the front grill with the bolts) and I think in the end, the new radiator is in almost the exact same position as the original

 

Absolutely, but if the goal is budget oriented (read inexpensive) extra systems upgrades aren't in line with that goal. Add that most people don't consider the need for a more robust alternator when adding enough fans to keep one of these cool.