radiator shopping

[War Wagon]

I hit a deer with my 94 idi turbo and ruined the radiator. Wondering if I should buy an oem replacement (about 500) or otherwise (aftermarket aluminum from carquest about 300) and who I should get it from. I'm looking for the best cooling and durability. I would guess that somebody on here has been down this road before.

 

[icanfixall]

The Rodeny Red is about the best aulminum radiator on the market. I took a chance when another member here did this same idea... Its been one of the best modifications I have done to my rig. I had a custom 5 row and it was not able to keep my engine cool. Now the Rodney cools great... Its almost difficult to get 190 degrees....

 

[DragRag]

I like really nice used ones for about $100.

 

[bike-maker]

I've had 2 used ones spring leaks on me. Both of them started leaking at the bottom of the upper tank. First one I couldn't get to the leak, the second one is now leak free (for now) thanks to about a half gallon of JB Weld. I'm going to just spend the money on a good one here in the near future.

 

[Sycostang67]

I got standard replacement from O'reilly for about $300 and it's been working just fine. It's only 3 row instead of 4 row, but the 3 rows are larger so they have the cooling capacity of a 4 row. My truck doesn't break a sweat moving 20k.

 

[bike-maker]

I might go that route. Good to hear it seems to cool good enough. I've got my system in good condition, no overheating issues; but when I pull my 5er, I'm at WOT about 75% of the time. I'm at about 18k with the trailer in tow.

 

[Sycostang67]

I pulled an old(heavy) 25' camper through the mountains a month after I installed the radiator. I spent a good hour of the trip around 3k rpm and never had a problem.

 

[mattplumber]

Get a stocker from rockauto.com. Best price, and they last a looooooooong time with proper coolant maintainence . Rust and scale buildup is the #1 killer of rads due to tap water usage, improper/no use of scas, or general neglect. Use a good low silicate antifreeze with distilled h20 and sca and a stock radiator will do the job well. Plus if you have a scrap metal yard near you, with the weight of the radiator its worth about $80 or so in scrap brass/copper which will greatly offshoot the cost of the new rad. Hope this helps!

 

[OLDBULL8]

1-800-Radiator or radiator .com

 

[War Wagon]

I would like to here more about this Rodeny Red radiator.

 

[Flagship]

1-800-Radiator or radiator .com

Wow! 8:30PM here and when I went on their site, there was someone in the chat room who quoted me a price, offered to find an installation site, and offered to match any other price I could find. He even gave me a choice of OE certified or aftermarket. Again, WOW!

 

[War Wagon]

Anyone with more comments about the Rodney Red?

 

[Feed Bunk]

I would like to know more on this rodney red radiator as well.

 

[Simp5782]

I had a 3core aluminum made by a guy in Great Falls for 250. backed by a 2year warranty. I also went ahead and did the electric fan swap, coolant filter kit, cat elc, t-stat, hoses and all for $500 in parts.

 

[GenLightening]

Anyone with more comments about the Rodney Red?

I had him (Jerry) build me one to my specs to fit the Chevy. It's still smaller than the Ford unit (not enough room for anything bigger) but now cools so much better than when the engine was in the Ford. He can build one to almost whatever size you need. I also chose to delete the trans cooler to give me more engine cooling.