Mounting radiator with tubed front clip

[thegreatjustino]

For those of you who have removed the stock sheet metal front clip and built a custom cage out of tubing, how are you mounting your radiators?

I ended up with a front clip that I'm really not happy with (fabricator I used wanted to do things his way instead of the way I wanted them done) and I've been looking for a legitimate way to mount the radiator for a while now.

Believe it or not, it has been held in with zip ties for quite some time, but I'm looking for a more permanent non-rigged up solution.

I can post pics of my setup in the morning.

 

[patrickk1]

When I built my truck, I had planned to tube the front clip but never got around to it. But, this is what I did with the core support and will work with a minor mod for a tubed core support. I had to remove my front crossmember since I stretched my wheelbase and used the 2x4 steering box, but without the worm gear mod. I made a new crossmember out of 2x4 steel that was pushed forward. I believe I used the factory lower mounts bolted to the back of that crossmember and then welded two L brackets to the aluminum radiator. The radiator sat in the original mounts bolted to the new crossmember and I made rubber pads that go between the upper L brackets and the core support. When I planned to tube it, I would have just added some steel pads to the tubed core support that I could have bolted the upper L brackets to.

It might work best if you show a couple picture of your front tube work.

 

[Mountain Ram]

I am not using a Bronco radiator on my tube front end, so it may be different than what you need to do. I fab'd up some rubber lined cups for the bottom corners of the radiator and bolted those to my frame rails (also not stock). I then fab'd a couple of brackets to clamp the radiator down with my upper tube- not much different than the stock Bronco setup. I have no ability to weld aluminum and didnt want to fubar an expensive radiator!!

If using a stock radiator, I would recommend copying the factory setup on the bottom with a fabricated bracket and re-using the upper mounts.

I will see if I can get some pics of mine this evening, but when you do tube- they all end up somewhat different...

 

[JSmall]

I'm not finished yet, but this is the idea. It will be the length of the radiator when finished. Small tabs will be welded to the tube and the mount will bolt to that and then to the radiator.

It will be dimpled and possibly have the Bronco logo

 

[thegreatjustino]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Here's what I'm working with. The bottom has a bracket welded to it for the radiator to sit on. The issue I'm trying to work out is the upper mounts. I'm probably going to swap the aluminum radiator sitting there now for one from an explorer 4.0 which will probably make a difference.

 

[Mountain Ram]

Here's what I have done... Very simple and not as cool looking as what others have done. All mounts have rubber cut to fit in them. The more I think about it, the better I like lower clamps that've under the radiator like stock.