Didn't the stock F100 rads come direct bolted to the support? The support itself had cushions on the bottom to absorb shock, unlike many vehicles.
Trying to rationalize this with "cushion mounting" the rad to the support also.

Just curious, Paul

 

Paul -

Yes, the stock radiator is hard-bolted to the support.

The advantages to cushion mounting a radiator might be vibration reduction, less chance of cracking flanges, etc. The flex of the radiator hoses provides for a lot of movement between the engine and radiator.

I think it's just personal preference. If there was something inherently wrong about hard-bolting, Henry would have changed it somewhere along the line.

 

You said what I am thinking, exactly. I imagine that will be the consensus. Thanks!

 

What RJ said. I don't think a thin pad would hurt, and might be beneficial. I don't think the support should be allowed to move very much though. I could see it contributing to fatigue of the sheetmetal that is supposed to be secured by the rad support.

 

Think about what we're dealing with here - Old Trucks.
When designed and built, crusin a modern haighway carried very little weight. The most conseideration was given to working around farms, construction sites and the like. Secondary to that was the road surfaces they would be operating on at the time.
Take a look at the setup on a 48-52 (I'm most familiar with those) The entire doghouse attaches to the Radiator support then thru two spring mounted bolts to the frame, several bolts at the firewall and the lower rear fenders are tird to the running boards to keep them from flopping. That designed allowed for the flex needed to handle the conditions the were expected to be encountered for a WORK vehicle.
Oh, keep the coushion, its nostelgic.