If you look at the truck I have in my gallery , It is presenting me with a cooling problem . Since I live in AZ where its 110 in the shade my problem is especially around town and it would be on the trails as well. I have determined it to be an air flow problem. Timing fuel and other variables have been eliminated. On the highway it cools fine with air flow. I do not have enough room in front of my engine to put any kind of good fans . Currently I have 2 10 in low profile fans that do not put out enough CFMS. I only have 3 inches total between the radiator and the water pump pulley. I have no way to move the radiator forward or backwards for better fans unless I re do the whole front of the truck and even then I dont know if I can squeeze a good cooling fan in. I have been toying with the idea of mounting my radiator in the bed maybe on a roll bar angled to the back with the spare tire mounted behind it. I have an aluminum radiator that is 16x32 and I have a set of 11 in. spal fans to mount on top so it would suck the air out and clear from the truck.
Where the radiator was I would be able to mount the exsisting a/c condensor with a low profile fan and maybe the trans cooler in front of that .
Besides plumbing back to the bed what other problems may I encounter? Would I need a high flow water pump. Any opinions on if this would work?
302, c-4, MSD,ignition, holley 570 street avenger
Thanks

 

I think I would measure diameter of your pulleys. Make sure you are overdriving the water pump(pump pulley smaller than crank pulley). If you are, maybe you can check around and find a factory or aftermarket pulley setup that would overdrive it a little more. Maybe more water circulation would help it. The later model factory set-ups seem to overdrive the waterpump more than the older ones. I think an 85 mustang 5.0 even had a two speed set-up, where it automatically changed the speed of the fan/waterpump depending on engine speed.

 

I am currently looking for a serpentine setup from a 87-93 mustang 5.0 to retrofit my 74 motor I would have the advantage of having a/c without the pulley nightmare. I think high volume pump is available for it. I could also overdrive the pulley on that too . Other than the water flow does it seem to be workable plan? Hey and if anyone has a serp setup I would be interested in it I would want everything forward, all accessories pulleys brackets plus timing cover and balancer

 

You may want to take a look at March Performance for the Serpetine conversion. http://www.marchperformance.com/contents.html#Serpentine Scroll down to the section on Fords. They can help you with every thing that you need for the conversion & underdrive pullies.

If you would prefer, try a local salvage yard. I picked up an entire Serpentine set up (from a 90 F150 302) for my 302 $70.00. Depending on the year of the 302 block (mine is a 69) you may be limited in which timing cover you will be able to use. I used the original timing cover but had to use a water pump from an 85 Mustang (it is a reverse flow water pump) to make it work correctly. You may also need to install an inline electric fuel pump as the mounting bracket on the drivers side (powere steering & A/C) sits in the same area as the manual fuel pump.

 

The March serpentine set up is sweet but it also has a real sweet price too. I will have to look into the ford F150 thing I havent looked at those yet for a conversion maybe I can find one . The prices I got for serp set ups out of a mustang were anywhere from 200 to 500 some of these guys are real proud of them.I will have to hold out for a better deal I think

 

I have a 86 F250 4X4 with 351w, I have a plow on the front. I just purchased the vehicle, and had a rough time getting home, the thing almost overheated, I pulled over for a few min and lowered the blade. It was not hot out 70-75deg on the way home. I drove with the plow almost all the way down. I removed the plow and checked it again...almost overheated.

I checked the fan clutch
Topped off rad fluid ensuring no air pockets
Changed T-stat installed a 180deg
Changed Radiator cap

Now the thing runs with the temp gauge almost straight up...slightly towards C.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 09-Sep-02 AT 00:37 AM (EST)]I had several problems with my plow even when it was 20 below zero if the plow was too high up it would start to run hot. My plow was a western they seem to be taller than the Meyers plows ( can't speak for the other brands ) I found when I had a new cutting edge on it would be even more difficult to keep it cool. The cutting edge when new added additional height. I went through a cutting edge a season. As the season went on the truck would be a little easier to cool because of the blade wear. Sometimes you can angle your blade one way or the other to catch air depends on which way the wind is blowing as well. But when you angle your blade it also causes a push in the same direction of the angle. Another possible solution is to do a lift , that would put your radiator higher or and even taller tires help. 70 to 75 degrees with a plow on can be a problem. The problem with running your plow low or even angling it is if there is any snow on the roads or sides of the roads you can loose control if you hit it hard enough with the blade . I thought about creating a scoop or sorts to attach to the top of my hydralic ram that would force air from over the top of my blade down into the radiator area.It would just basically work when the plow was in the up position and not be in the way when it was down. Considering the area in which I covered ,about a 50 mile area. I just played with different combinations till I could keep it cool. I did alot of large commercial plowing so traveling was part of the job.

 

I have seen a similiar vent/wing setup on a Blazer. It was made out of used plexiglass held to the lifting arm with u bolts and washers/nuts on the top. I have a Westerm conventionl mount/cable actuated pump. I have the 8 1/2 ft blade on there too. I think the blade is wider than the 250 too? I have to get new flags/poles for both sides. I need a manual too so I can change the fluid, this is my first plow that I have had to do maintenance to. In past years I drove someone else's veh and didnt worry about things like that. I hope with the 180 therostat that I will have better control of overheating.

 

I took my to dealer before the year started and they change fluid and adjust everything since you havent done any maint on one if you find the right person you can kinda watch and maybe they will explain to you the things to look for I believe mine had to be sucked out of there because the drain plugs usually get froze. Check all of your hydraulic rams for pitting , that will lead to seal wear and leaking check your quick disconnects they seem to always get froze up from salt and dirt, Get good easy to pull out pins unless you leave your plow on at all times or you will be fighting putting them in and out. ALWAYS have a spare hydraulic hose in your truck and some tools to replace it along with tranny fluid for the pump. If your seals get bad the water will get into your fluid and when it gets cold your pump will not work properly . I believe there is a special fluid you can use when it gets real cold so it wont freeze as bad. I even carried a spare rebuilt motor and a set of operating cables.Nothing like being stuck in a parking lot with your plow down because of your motor or a busted cable. By the way you need to check the set screws that the cables are secured by on the pump housing , they are usually very small allen heads that freeze up and strip very easy, I drill mine and tapped a larger allen head screw into it and also used never seize on them . The advantage beside being larger is that even if you do strip them you can grab the head with pliers or vice grips. . I also kept an extra selinoid as well . If you have the cheapo western selinoid that costs an arm and a leg replace it with a good old fashion ford selenoid easy to get and cheaper than the western one and actually more reliable. I usually plowed in a t-shirt or sometimes a sweatshirt but I ALWAYS had cold weather gear like good boots, carhart bibs good gloves, hats and something to lay on just in case I needed to crawl under my truck, Jumper cables, and Coffee. And if you plowed with one of my buddies he would pass you a good old George Burns cigar that would last the better part of a long plowing night. Glad I quit smokin . I probably forgot some stuff but that should get you going .

 

Those are some great suggestions, have you been on the snowplow contractors site? If not let me know and I will send the http. Right now I am trying to find a bench cover that will fit, that should make by butt feel better. The best way to take care of pitting is 600 grit sandpaper, and a little ATF to clean the ram afterwards?

Keep in touch


Will
Alsip, IL
86 F250 4x4 351W
97 Explorer XLT 4x4 4.0 SOHC
99 Jeep Sahara 4x4 4.0 I-6

 

You can try the sandpaper , It depends on how bad the pitting is I had to replace a few of my rams after several years of plowing. Do you have someone to plow for already? Since I plowed up by the Chicago area I could probably hook you up with a guy that has alot of work. Let me know if you want his name. I actually plowed snow from Zion -Waukegan area all the way to Chicago . I used to pow the Chicago Bulls Training center in Deerfield-Northbrook We even did big target shopping centers in Chicago

Don

 

The pitting is real light, one of the angle rams was just replaced, the one that was exposed to weather while stored. The other 2 have real real mild dots here and there, I just need to hit them once before the snow and keep them oiled w/ fluid throught the winter. I am working with MAARKS snowplowing, one of his accounts is Yellow Freight in Bridgeview. I worked with him last year driving his eqpt. I called his wife and left a message this week that I just bought a plow truck. If all else fails, I have one other guy I could work for. I am bringing the rig...so I imagine I can find many people.



Will
Alsip, IL
86 F250 4x4 351W
97 Explorer XLT 4x4 4.0 SOHC
99 Jeep Sahara 4x4 4.0 I-6