My fan ate my radiator

[75Sport]

Ah crap. fan ate the radiator, on the road!. WTF. But heres a pic i took. btw, if anyone has an extra radiator lying around, i know a guy who needs one.

 

[americanhorses]

Looks like you need a new fan too. Bummer

 

[desertrat302]

OUCH! That one hurt.One of Chuck's radiator guards would have prevented that,but I'm guessing you have already realized that....
Oh well,look on the bright side,you probably were gonna upgrade the rad anyway,and summer's coming,could be a blessing in disguise...
Sorry about your carnage,hope ya get it running again soon.So...What happened?

 

[66horse]

bummer dude! Ya definately getone of chucks radiator guards. I have only an inch of clearance so this is a nice reminder fo r me that I need ot put an order in.

 

[John Holden]

dumb question, what is a radiator guard and how does it work??

 

[66horse]

[quote author=John Holden link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120134 date=1049154459]
dumb question, what is a radiator guard and how does it work??
[/quote]

"B.C. Broncos' Radiator Guard (pictured with radiator, above) will work with all fans from 14" thru 18". This product will help keep the fan from contacting the radiator on any car , truck or SUV and is highly recommended on all applications that place the fan less than 2" from the radiator. Made of steel and powder-coated in your choice of two colors. Don't wait one minute too long, this is very inexpensive radiator insurance!"

 

[teknalee]

that reminds me of the movie the ring

 

[jims66]

I don't think that guard would have saved that radiator from that much carnage.

 

[Dennis]

[quote author=jims66 link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120161 date=1049158171]
I don't think that guard would have saved that radiator from that much carnage.
[/quote]
I disagree. Mine did the same thing during a deep water crossing. If you can keep the edge of the fan from catching the rad. and digging in, you can prevent major damage. That ring seems like it would be very effective in doing just that.

 

[JTCamp]

I'm in austin and the same thing happened to me. The Austin roads plus 30 year old radiator mounts = ruined rad. and fan. I'm sorry to hear about what happened. I too was driving along, went over a bump, and it happened. Good luck, I wouldn't recommend Duff's 4 core rad. I've had mine for under a year and it is starting to look bad...I've heard after a couple of years they have problems. Best of luck.

John

 

[jims66]

[quote author=Dennis link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120189 date=1049162702]
[quote author=jims66 link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120161 date=1049158171]
I don't think that guard would have saved that radiator from that much carnage.
[/quote]
I disagree. Mine did the same thing during a deep water crossing. If you can keep the edge of the fan from catching the rad. and digging in, you can prevent major damage. That ring seems like it would be very effective in doing just that.
[/quote]

Well if you didn't have it set up perfectly it seems to me that the fan would catch an edge of the guard and make it a projectile or a pretzel. I am sure it would help in a minor rubbing situation but not in a full eating. Good luck to you.

 

[darnoldy]

the same thing happened to me, TWICE. we mis-diagnosed the problem the first time and eventually found that I had a broken motor mount and the engine had flexed forward. We had a problem finding a flex fan that would fit with the AC compressor... good luck!
Dan

 

[ASE-73]

I hate it when that happens

 

[blu72]

ahh yeah that looks familiar!!!
tell you what I did to make sure it didn't happen to the 4 core I bought to replace it:
go to you local hardware store and buy a piece of expanded metal (you know it looks like a bunch of X's)
the sheet i bought required a little trimming. I used the same mounting holes for the shroud and bolted it to the radiator, covers the whole radiator. it will never happen. again
works great and was cheap compared to a new radiator!!!!

 

[John Holden]

that's pretty cool. Does anyone run electric fans? That would eliminate the problem of the engine moving and the fan hitting the radiator. Forgive me, I'm new to this. Still looking for a bronco. I'm looking at a 74 with lots of extra parts right now.

 

[BoltBuster]

That brings a new meaning for putting the horse before the cart- :-

http://www.broncoparts.com/viewcatalog_subcat.php3?selsubcat=4

 

[GRIZZLY]

[quote author=66horse link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120135 date=1049154582]
[quote author=John Holden link=board=5;threadid=15870;start=0#msg120134 date=1049154459]
dumb question, what is a radiator guard and how does it work??
[/quote]

"B.C. Broncos' Radiator Guard (pictured with radiator, above) will work with all fans from 14" thru 18". This product will help keep the fan from contacting the radiator on any car , truck or SUV and is highly recommended on all applications that place the fan less than 2" from the radiator. Made of steel and powder-coated in your choice of two colors. Don't wait one minute too long, this is very inexpensive radiator insurance!"
[/quote]Just make sure you mount the ring concentric to the fan. If it's off center you'll take the guard with it. If set up right it definitely(99%) would have prevented it.

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

Have you figured out what caused this mess?

 

[75Sport]

fan shroud. its was cracked, then repaired, the repair broke and gradually got in there and cause a hell of a mess.

 

[BwoncoHowie]

Yeaouch!
Now would be a good time to install one of Chuck's high efficiency copper rads and add the guard too. BH