My radiator started leaking and, when I pulled it there was grass seeds and other trash stuck in the front of it from being driven in pastures. I assume the fan is drawing enough air even when it is not engaged to suck the trash in. This is the final straw for me convert to electric fans. (not that better gas mileage and less noise is not enough.)

I am thinking of removing the fan and clutch while I have the radiator out. The truck will be back in the pastures as soon as the radiator is back in. I will add electric fans before summer arrives. Maybe 2 fans up high and a screen between the bumper and radiator. I am also thinking about 2 fans, one behind or in front of the air conditioner condenser and another just in case the engine gets hot.

Is anyone running without a fan? On the highway in 100 degree heat the fan clutch will engage at the top of a long grade and when I leave the pastures after a 1.5 road of 15 mph. I have not seen a time when the fan is needed except to make the air conditioner work at slow speeds.

Is there any down side to running without a fan for a while?

 

I'm running mine without, but it sees primarily freeway use. In town that temp climbs fast, especially if it's loaded.
An electric fan works best behind the radiator, in front it can actually reduce airflow on the freeway.

Sent from my Brigadier using IB AutoGroup

 

I took my fan and fan clutch off a long time ago, i use a 16" electric fan drawing 3000cfm, it was way cheaper than repacing the fan clutch alone, i have not had any cooling issues

 

Where did you get the fan? Does it draw enough air to keep the A/C cool at stop lights?

 

I run without my stock fan assembly each of the last two winters. Only becomes a problem if:
under 20mph for minutes at a time. (Idling, stop and go, school zones after highway speeds)
OR if towing.
OR if the ambient temp is 60+.

It's hard to quantify and everyone has different states of cooling system efficiency.

If it's a farm truck I'd say you're screwed to pull the fan. Lots of low speed stuff, right? My fan always turns at least somewhat, and that really makes a huge cooling difference.

Also E fans are typically "pull", so they should be mounted behind the radiator. However I got an e fan for an old 81 Celica a while back and though it was listed as "push or pull" you could see that the fan blades weren't symmetrical and it pushed MUCH better than it pulled. So sometimes you gotta see for yourself.

I don't think an e fan mounted in front of the radiator would affect the airflow over the radiator much more than it being behind it. I can't explain it in text form but the difference should be negligible.

-Joshua

 

My efan is a puller not a pusher, after taking off the fan,clutch and shroud there was plenty of room, the only time it has gotten warm was on a 90° day with the ac on ideling for 3 1/2 hours on fire scene

 

I wouldn't. The fan is there for a reason and it does its job well.

 

I have decided to leave the fan for now and put a screen between the bumper and the radiator. That works ok on my tractor and I did the same on a cab over 2 ton truck. Also, I will put some cardboard over the lower 25% of the radiator until spring. That is where all the grass is collecting and maybe the engine temperature will be a little higher. It stays on the start of "N" and in the summer it will get to "O".

 

My thoughts are like most people mentioned, removing the fan won't help anything. A better screen is definitely the answer though.

 

I am running the windstar dual fans. Id say they do the job damn near as well as the mechanical. Radiator is bad inside so it gets hot pulling heavy with either one, but maybe just a little slower witht the mechanical. Honestly, theyre close enough, it could just be my imagination. The dual fan shroud also doesnt completely cover the radiator, about 5" on the bottom with no suction. Fabbin a shroud was going to be a job for this winter if i can ever find the time.

 

Thank you for the input. I will pick up a set of the Windstar fans some time in the future and search for a controller.

Having the lower 5 inches out of the shroud may be good thing to keep pastures trash out of the radiator. I do not see working the truck that hard or long at slow speeds. I have a tractor to creep a long with heavy trailers.

The truck smokes like crazy when it idles for a long time or has light loads for extended time. It takes about 1.5 on the highway for the smoke to clear. It is probably normal for a 7.3 with 250K but it looks bad so I limit the idle time.

 

Im thinking the crap you get in the radiator wont be fixed via fan though. Even though my fans are off 99% of the time radiator still picks up a fair bit of sage brush bits and dirt, and im not even out in the crap all that much.

Harris Performance Controls

Is what i have, VERY nice controller and install kit. Really customizable too, you can get the diode pigtail so that you can add other triggers like AC manual switch or anything else you can think of. Good customer service as well.

 

are you using the single or 2 speed controller?

Thank you for the information, I will bookmark this thread.

 

All the variations are the same controller, the difference is how its wired. I just got the controller as i was already wired and had my own relays etc. from using a cheap chinese controller. Trust me... do not use the cheap chinese controller. In hindsight, i think i would go with the radiator probe instead of the wet probe. Mounting it in the head where the idiot light sender was is not giving me the results i want. there is major temp fluctuation between there and the t-stat housing. For instance, if youre working it hard on a grade or something all is well. but if you leave it idle for 20 minutes temp at the t-stat is 240ish while temp in the head is 215ish (when i have it set to come on). After some reading, the radiator probe is alot simpler to deal with.

I actually have the mechanical fan back on it for now until i get some bugs worked out... like a new 3 core aluminum radiator, the afore mentioned shroud fabbed up, and a port in the t-stat housing for the probe.

If youre up for some wiring, you can build your own kit with just the controller. I would recommend F250s thread on e-fans as a guide. I snagged a fuse box out of a 90s sploder for power and auxillary fuse and relay slots to keep it as clean as possible... lots of headache however. Have to pull all the terminals out, which are mostly 16-20ga. and spread them and solder in the appropriate gauge wire and reassemble. the sploder box is long and narrow, which fits nicely next to the stock fuse box under the hood.

 

Mounting the temp switch on the t-stat or radiator make sense to me. I have also thought about mounting the switch in radiator outlet. Based on the hyper mileage thread, keeping the temp in the 220 range provides the best fuel economy. The radiator outlet temperature could be set to target a 220ish t-stat temperature. You would want a warning light or 238 degree override switch on the t-stat just in case the temp rise through the engine is more than expected. I may be over thinking this.

My new radiator is from Advanced Auto brand name is One Tough 1. The catalog lists it as 3 row but is 2 row. The flutes are at least twice the length of the stock 4 row so the cooling surface should be similar. Plastic top and bottom and the drain and heater are on the wrong sides. It did come with new clips to mound the shroud and radiator. It also came some fin damaged despite begin sealed in the factory box.

The Good: $265 with tax and it comes with a limited lifetime warranty which I have not read but assume they will give you a replacement if it fails. The same radiator is available at other stores and several post indicate 18 months service while others are having better luck. My truck gets driven one or two weekends a month so at this price I can live with the fragile construction.

I would not recommend this radiator if you depend on your truck to make money. Bite the bullet and go to a local radiator shop and have them build a commercial duty unit and gratefully pay the man want every he charges.