[Archived]

Rob,

I took mine out 15-17 years ago and I do not remember the details. The only thing I remember was the hose fitting in the rear was tricky. My coach had radiator shutters so that added to the job and as I think about it the entire removal and replacement was just time consuming but nothing difficult. The weight was an issue so take care.

Don’t wait. At the temps you describe at the speeds you are running recoring is long overdue. You will see your temps in the 175 to 185 range. As Tom suggests if you do not already have it, replace the steel fan with the one with plastic blades. And while the radiator is our take advantage and clean, scrape and repaint.

[Archived]

Rob,

I know we have had folks do the job recently, so hopefully someone will jump in.

[Archived]

Rob, Jon forgot to include…..”Polish”

[Archived]

The rest of the story.
Last summer I posted the question about changing radiators due to the
overheating problems we were experiencing, and had concluded that the radiator
was the cause. Before a radiator was
purchased and an installation contracted for, my brother and I were looking at
the radiator and fan for the difficulty of this job. After taking off the fan belt guard and examining
the fan belt tensioner, it was discovered that the upper rod end bearing or
more correctly the Heim Joint had broken where the shaft attaches to the air
cylinder. The remaining part of the Heim
Joint was wedged into the top of the air cylinder in such a way that it was
still functioning as intended. How long had
it been like this? It appears to have been
quite a while due the amount of rust in the break. Evidently, this had caused belt slippage and
a two inch shorter belt had been installed.
That belt was aged cracked considerably and if installed new, this
situation could have lasted for years. Certainly much longer than the 15 months
I have owned her.

The shortened belt did keep the fan turning but it had also
pulled the top of the fan partially out of the shroud housing which reduced the
amount of air that could be pulled through the radiator. After installing the correct size (2 inch
longer belt.), the fan now falls properly into the shroud and we haven’t seen
any more high engine temperatures. The
part only cost $180 and was available locally.

The moral of this story is it pays to watch your Heim end.

[Dale]

That’s excellent news and good advice.

While I recognize the safety that engine guards provide as well as the eye candy some of them are, it is impossible to do a decent pre-trip inspection with the guards in place.

I think the key to your success was having the ability to see the belts and tensioners. Over the years I have caught a lot of things that could have become a problem during a trip because my coach has no guards and I have the ability to access and see everything along the rear of the coach. I have replaced belts that had been damaged by a stone kicked up while driving. The stone or something got between the belt and pulley resulting in a substaintial tear. I have found bad bearings in an idler pulley. I have found leaks in coolant lines and oil leaks.

The point being we cannot fix or repair things unless we can see the need. Guards have a function, but you can safely do all you need to do without guards in place if you remember to follow one simple rule. Do not do any work back there if the engine is running. And if you do work back there, remember to set the switch between rear and front start so the entire starting circuit is disabled.

[Charles]

When I did a replace back in May, there are a couple of things that come to mind;

#1 I took the muffler out so I could get in behind and work to remove the hoses.

#2 I took the belt tensioner off so I could get the fan as far away as possible.

#3 Mark the shroud so you put it back the way it came off. There is not much difference, but there is. I didn’t and had to take the radiator back out and do a 180 with the shroud because the fan didn’t go back in.

#4 Put new hoses on at this time.

#5 Installed a new fan, since the older one had signs of cracks. The older one had to be hammered on where the bolts are removed until it broke loose, It just didn’t fall off.

I put a new radiator from Prevost since my mounting bolts twisted off during removal and the radiator frame was rusting pretty bad, the lower steel panel was thin from rusting.