Thanks for posting this, every time a part fails... I too somehow take it as a personal failure (sometimes it was an oversight or mistake). Even though you have way more skill and talent, glad to see I am not alone. But it never fails that if we make it through those feelings and fix the problem the feeling of accomplishment out weighs those negative emotions every time. Thanks!
@@MerricksGaragel know you said you have a 4 core radiator, get a good well made one, long time ago l had a 3 core HD radiator, I was still overheating, then l got a 2 core, 1 inch each, the engine never over heated, l saw the temperature climbed up in the summer going up the Sierra mountains in the 240F, now l never seen it go pass 225F, it been 10 years now. I have Griffin radiator, it holds extra capacity of coolant, 25% more. Good luck 👍
@@MerricksGarageyou can tell if your thermostat is stuck closed, you should be able to still move the thermostat by your hand, if it doesn’t move, it’s stuck closed.👍
I see your over heating as being many many many little things coming together. I have a 91 crew cab with a 6bt/nv4500/205/gear vendors. I’m running 37”s with 4.88 gears, yes that’s a lot of gear for reason. On about 6” lift. I live in SoCal and tow our 28’ boat, fully loaded with the family and bed full of stuff through the Mojave multiple times throughout the summer. Over chiriaco summit when it’s 115 plus and the ac running. We even do a yearly trip up near Shasta and we towed the boat home when a Central Valley heat wave hit at 112 degrees this year. Never overheated. Make sure the basics are taken care of. No clogged cores, good thermostat, fresh coolant (obviously that’s being take care of), and use an air lift to assure every last bit of air is out of the system prior to driving. I have a 2” cowl hood with a 4 row radiator and mechanical fan and the base of the windshield is massively hot compared to the rest, cowl hood is clearly helping to eject heat. 1. Some broad thoughts for your setup. Mechanical fan. I know it’s tight but the Cummins fan spits way more air at 2000-2200 engine rpm than those electrics can ever dream of. You might be surprised, not all 4 row radiators are the same thickness and ultimate depth once mounted. I have an aluminum 4 row with mechanical fan and clutch and it fits. Tightly but it fits. Find a radiator and fan combo that fits. 2. Assure the fan pulls clean air through the radiator. No air gaps in the shroud anywhere. 3. Build a custom air box to take cool air from the front of the truck. No engine bay air. That is super hot air. 4. Consider an auxiliary cooler. Bypass heater core with valves and run a separate small radiator under the truck with an electric fan. I’m thinking of doing that to my truck. It’s a good coolant path to cool bc it runs between the head and block. 5. I don’t recall if you have a turbo blanket, wrapped manifold and down pipe. Get one if you don’t. Again, gotta keep heat out of the engine bay. 6. Don’t be afraid of lots of gear. I know that sucks for cost and effort but I geared from 4.10’s to 4.88’s with gear vendors. For the same chiriaco pass during summer when it was 118 outside, I lost an easy 250-300 degrees of egt and engine temp never climbs even a little bit. You’ll get it sorted. It is possible.
thanks man, there is a lot of knowledge in this post! I am gonna add an auxiliary cooler. Bought a couple options the other day to look at and figure what would work best. I do have turbo and manifold wraps. I need to step up the CAI I have cobbled together but it did make a huge difference towing this year. No power loss despite temps climbing.
@@MerricksGarage happy to try and help. Btw, not to rub it in but I’m not overheating and I still haven’t done all the things I suggested. I still need to build a cold air box, build a fan shroud and probably aux cooler for piece of mind. It is possible to keep the temps in check on these things! I drive mine everyday.
@@JayCrash450your truck sounds perfect! I have an 87 crew with the same parts accumulated minus the gear vendors truck has factory 4.56 gears. Do you have pics or a build posted anywhere? I'd love to see what you did
Got to love the old girls, my 89 crewcab dually broke on the 118 two weeks ago leaving Simi, oil pressure sending unit shorted out blew the fuse that also controlled fuel pumps, but sitting on freeway in 100 degree temperatures sucked
Swap to HD mechanical fan. Huge difference. Pulls way more CFMs than any electrical fan. I’m runnin a 2nd gen radiator as well. Cured my overheating issues. It’s a tight fit but I found a way to make it work.
I have a 12 valve swapped excursion. I run the mechanical fan and 6.0 ford radiator from a junk yard. Towing and driving hard on hot days and never gets over 195. Your driving a brick while towing... electric fans just don't pull enough air. Good luck bro. Always look foward to your videos.
Square body big block rads were 4 row. Suare body diesel radiators were 4 row and wider. The driver side of the top core support, where the radiator brackets bolt to are factory drilled/threaded. 4 row radiators almost need a mechanical fan due to their blade scoop size to pull air through all that core density. Electric fan radiators are almost always really thin compared. I might have the top cover you need. Im in SoCal and also have a 8.1 K5 on tons.
Should have enough air flow with that lift but I know cowl hoods always made a big difference on my big blocks pulling hills around here, I have never had a cummins overheat and I have owned quite a few of them, may just be super tight in there, and have to get some hot air out.
Of all the trips to miss.. bummer.. Gotta have thick skin at times rolling these trucks on long road trips. Glad it wasn't too involved to get things figured out.
One thing I’ll recommend is putting heet in your coolant. I thought it was a gimmick but tried it because I was pushing my burb through the Smokey’s every week for 2 1/2 hours for work. My trans was getting hot. I added heet to the coolant and saw a real world 20 plus degree difference. The second recommendation I’ve got. Get one of those dummie deal thermostats. Ya know the ones that have a hole. No moving parts just gotta dial in the hole in the sheet metal. Thermostats are junk these days. The only problem with a thermostat delete is idk how a diesel would react. I had a 350 sbc with one and she never had any problems unless it was super cold
@@MerricksGarage the thermostat plug my SBC had it would hold around 160. It just restricts the flow. It had to be below freezing for it to get below 160. Only reason I went back to a thermostat was to use my heat. I did go through two brand new thermostats. Damn things were stuck right out the box.
I think you're on the right track with the cooling system, but I'd turn down the fuel delivery, basicly detune it a bit, until you can get it all sorted. Best of luck man...
... maybe check out Finnegan's garage and see what he did for fitment ideas. He's got a Cummins in the Roadkill ramp truck and I believe the stock fan also. His video goes in to some detail about that...
😮🥵 yes hot is not fun, l too would preasure test to check head gasket, if l remember you used the 625 treated head studs, head gasket should be 👍🏻. I have the mechanical fan on my diesel burb, heat never an issue, yes this year was hot 🔥 🥵 even up north here 🇨🇦. You will get it sorted, the thermostat was a major reason ❕️your trans while towing ? Hot? Or hot hot 🔥? Do you have a fan cooled auxiliary trans cooler? Wish you all tthe best, love to see old squares pulling heavy! Get er done! Have some fun! ✌🏻👍🏻🤙🤘🇨🇦.
thanks man, banging towards a solution and resolution to the cooling. I really do think the thermostat is a major issue! Trans is manual. I don't have temp gauge on it although maybe I should! There are some things I just don't wanna know!! ha ha
My 12 valve swapped power wagon also doesn't have space for the mechanical fan I'm running a very similar electric fan as you are i also added a large remote oil cooler with fan and thermostat under the truck to take some load off the system so far so good if you get that thermostat dialed in you should be good
you might want to look into a different radiator. My educated guess is that even with a big block radiator you aren't going to get enough cooling through it. I've seen other projects like yours use the ram truck rad and push it into the support to fit the mechanical fan. Might want to think about that.
That's what happens when you inherit dodge problems😂 all jokes aside if your block is bored over maybe the cylinder walls to thin and will cause overheating issues I've added extra heat exchangers with fans(made from heater cores stuck in the fender wells) on a GTO judge with a 400 that was punched out .60 over another thing I noticed is you need to seal your fan shroud to rad shouldn't have gaps that will suck air around the rad instead of through it same with condenser to rad (I ran a a/c shop we sealed them with foam squeezed between and sticky foam tape around the outside)
hi had same problem with my 80 sub on 40s swapped in 496bb 600hp big rad duel fans .ran hot found there was not enough free air flow with just elec fan holes cut think of a stock mech fan shrowd hole is.cut my aluminum shrowd around elec fans 5in more to get free air flow does not over heat know
I’m not familiar with diesel but 2k rpm and 10psi boost would cause major heat problems in a gas engine. I would think you would want to be at 4k rpm to lower the load.
The only thing that counts is getting up after you get knocked down. Failure is the crucible that forges winners. Keep at it, you'll get it figured out.
You've overheated that thing so many times I'd throw a head gasket at it. No offense, but those fans will never keep up. You need like 6-10,000 cfm. I see plenty of space for a mechanical fan, you don't need the clutch. I've had good luck with a mechanical flex fan on a chronic overheater and no shroud.
100% agree. I see his problems as many little things but ditching the electric fans is one that will help the most. Those Cummins fans pull some air! Electrics are awesome for alot of things but nothing pulls as hard as a big mechanical fan. There’s a reason big rigs and current HD diesels use mechanical fans still.
Maybe extra electric fans can turn on any time ? , low on anti freeze, think straight water gets hotter than with antifreeze ,, get coolest thermostat , think 160° one
Once I get this all sorted, I am going to be running Evans Waterless Coolant exclusively. I ordered a new Cummins Factory thermostat. I think it was the 175
Maybe i should keep my mouth shut, but I had a 6.2 burb and a 6.2 winnebago…even with the best hd radiator they’d get hot going up hill. Can you fit the radiator out of a ram that was matched to the cummins? Or did you do that already?
how would you feel if you were a cummins and had lived most of your life comfortable in a dodge and someone snatched you out of your home you loved and stuck you into a chevy truck somewhere you were never meant to be got to be scarry
Thanks for posting this. The setbacks are valuable lessons for all of us. Having a problem, getting your rig home and overcoming is incredible.
Thanks man. I always try to show the reality of the struggle. I have success but I also have a lot of difficult times.
Thanks for posting this, every time a part fails... I too somehow take it as a personal failure (sometimes it was an oversight or mistake). Even though you have way more skill and talent, glad to see I am not alone. But it never fails that if we make it through those feelings and fix the problem the feeling of accomplishment out weighs those negative emotions every time. Thanks!
Yea that’s really kinda the whole point isn’t. There are no shortcuts or easy ways out. Experience and wisdom comes from hard earned work.
@@MerricksGaragel know you said you have a 4 core radiator, get a good well made one, long time ago l had a 3 core HD radiator, I was still overheating, then l got a 2 core, 1 inch each, the engine never over heated, l saw the temperature climbed up in the summer going up the Sierra mountains in the 240F, now l never seen it go pass 225F, it been 10 years now. I have Griffin radiator, it holds extra capacity of coolant, 25% more. Good luck 👍
@@MerricksGarageyou can tell if your thermostat is stuck closed, you should be able to still move the thermostat by your hand, if it doesn’t move, it’s stuck closed.👍
I see your over heating as being many many many little things coming together.
I have a 91 crew cab with a 6bt/nv4500/205/gear vendors. I’m running 37”s with 4.88 gears, yes that’s a lot of gear for reason. On about 6” lift.
I live in SoCal and tow our 28’ boat, fully loaded with the family and bed full of stuff through the Mojave multiple times throughout the summer. Over chiriaco summit when it’s 115 plus and the ac running. We even do a yearly trip up near Shasta and we towed the boat home when a Central Valley heat wave hit at 112 degrees this year. Never overheated.
Make sure the basics are taken care of. No clogged cores, good thermostat, fresh coolant (obviously that’s being take care of), and use an air lift to assure every last bit of air is out of the system prior to driving.
I have a 2” cowl hood with a 4 row radiator and mechanical fan and the base of the windshield is massively hot compared to the rest, cowl hood is clearly helping to eject heat.
1. Some broad thoughts for your setup.
Mechanical fan. I know it’s tight but the Cummins fan spits way more air at 2000-2200 engine rpm than those electrics can ever dream of. You might be surprised, not all 4 row radiators are the same thickness and ultimate depth once mounted. I have an aluminum 4 row with mechanical fan and clutch and it fits. Tightly but it fits. Find a radiator and fan combo that fits.
2. Assure the fan pulls clean air through the radiator. No air gaps in the shroud anywhere.
3. Build a custom air box to take cool air from the front of the truck. No engine bay air. That is super hot air.
4. Consider an auxiliary cooler. Bypass heater core with valves and run a separate small radiator under the truck with an electric fan. I’m thinking of doing that to my truck. It’s a good coolant path to cool bc it runs between the head and block.
5. I don’t recall if you have a turbo blanket, wrapped manifold and down pipe. Get one if you don’t. Again, gotta keep heat out of the engine bay.
6. Don’t be afraid of lots of gear. I know that sucks for cost and effort but I geared from 4.10’s to 4.88’s with gear vendors. For the same chiriaco pass during summer when it was 118 outside, I lost an easy 250-300 degrees of egt and engine temp never climbs even a little bit.
You’ll get it sorted. It is possible.
thanks man, there is a lot of knowledge in this post! I am gonna add an auxiliary cooler. Bought a couple options the other day to look at and figure what would work best. I do have turbo and manifold wraps. I need to step up the CAI I have cobbled together but it did make a huge difference towing this year. No power loss despite temps climbing.
@@MerricksGarage happy to try and help. Btw, not to rub it in but I’m not overheating and I still haven’t done all the things I suggested. I still need to build a cold air box, build a fan shroud and probably aux cooler for piece of mind. It is possible to keep the temps in check on these things! I drive mine everyday.
@@JayCrash450your truck sounds perfect! I have an 87 crew with the same parts accumulated minus the gear vendors truck has factory 4.56 gears. Do you have pics or a build posted anywhere? I'd love to see what you did
Got to love the old girls, my 89 crewcab dually broke on the 118 two weeks ago leaving Simi, oil pressure sending unit shorted out blew the fuse that also controlled fuel pumps, but sitting on freeway in 100 degree temperatures sucked
Glad those people stopped n helped out!
yea people are good!
Swap to HD mechanical fan. Huge difference. Pulls way more CFMs than any electrical fan. I’m runnin a 2nd gen radiator as well. Cured my overheating issues. It’s a tight fit but I found a way to make it work.
I have a 12 valve swapped excursion. I run the mechanical fan and 6.0 ford radiator from a junk yard. Towing and driving hard on hot days and never gets over 195. Your driving a brick while towing... electric fans just don't pull enough air. Good luck bro. Always look foward to your videos.
Very cool! I am gonna give these fans a try and if they dont cut it then I will try a flex fan without a clutch
Square body big block rads were 4 row. Suare body diesel radiators were 4 row and wider. The driver side of the top core support, where the radiator brackets bolt to are factory drilled/threaded. 4 row radiators almost need a mechanical fan due to their blade scoop size to pull air through all that core density. Electric fan radiators are almost always really thin compared.
I might have the top cover you need. Im in SoCal and also have a 8.1 K5 on tons.
Thanks man! Let me know. I’m searching eBay
Bummer! Need to get that mechanical fan back on it!
Should have enough air flow with that lift but I know cowl hoods always made a big difference on my big blocks pulling hills around here, I have never had a cummins overheat and I have owned quite a few of them, may just be super tight in there, and have to get some hot air out.
Gonna need a quick bike check one of these episodes
My first love. That bike is my Santa Cruz tall boy long travel carbon. It’s about 10 years old but an absolute killer bike. The VPP just works.
Of all the trips to miss.. bummer.. Gotta have thick skin at times rolling these trucks on long road trips. Glad it wasn't too involved to get things figured out.
What's life without a few car or truck issues? Square body fan rt here!!! 87 short 4x4👍
One thing I’ll recommend is putting heet in your coolant. I thought it was a gimmick but tried it because I was pushing my burb through the Smokey’s every week for 2 1/2 hours for work. My trans was getting hot. I added heet to the coolant and saw a real world 20 plus degree difference. The second recommendation I’ve got. Get one of those dummie deal thermostats. Ya know the ones that have a hole. No moving parts just gotta dial in the hole in the sheet metal. Thermostats are junk these days. The only problem with a thermostat delete is idk how a diesel would react. I had a 350 sbc with one and she never had any problems unless it was super cold
yea, they don't like to run cold but that really isn't an issue here most of the year!
@@MerricksGarage the thermostat plug my SBC had it would hold around 160. It just restricts the flow. It had to be below freezing for it to get below 160. Only reason I went back to a thermostat was to use my heat. I did go through two brand new thermostats. Damn things were stuck right out the box.
I think you're on the right track with the cooling system, but I'd turn down the fuel delivery, basicly detune it a bit, until you can get it all sorted. Best of luck man...
... maybe check out Finnegan's garage and see what he did for fitment ideas. He's got a Cummins in the Roadkill ramp truck and I believe the stock fan also. His video goes in to some detail about that...
Maybe install some hood louvers or maybe get a cowel hood to extract all the heat from the engine bay. Or even side louvers on the back of the fenders
😮🥵 yes hot is not fun, l too would preasure test to check head gasket, if l remember you used the 625 treated head studs, head gasket should be 👍🏻. I have the mechanical fan on my diesel burb, heat never an issue, yes this year was hot 🔥 🥵 even up north here 🇨🇦.
You will get it sorted, the thermostat was a major reason ❕️your trans while towing ? Hot? Or hot hot 🔥? Do you have a fan cooled auxiliary trans cooler?
Wish you all tthe best, love to see old squares pulling heavy! Get er done! Have some fun!
✌🏻👍🏻🤙🤘🇨🇦.
thanks man, banging towards a solution and resolution to the cooling. I really do think the thermostat is a major issue! Trans is manual. I don't have temp gauge on it although maybe I should! There are some things I just don't wanna know!! ha ha
My 12 valve swapped power wagon also doesn't have space for the mechanical fan I'm running a very similar electric fan as you are i also added a large remote oil cooler with fan and thermostat under the truck to take some load off the system so far so good if you get that thermostat dialed in you should be good
yea, I'm gonna be adding an oil cooler and hopefully the thermostat repair works as intended!
You should be using commercial antifreeze but that thermostat is just an unavoidable failure point
Stuck thermostat will definitely do it. :)
Idk man ,I love that build
You will figure it out. All part of the adventure.
you might want to look into a different radiator. My educated guess is that even with a big block radiator you aren't going to get enough cooling through it. I've seen other projects like yours use the ram truck rad and push it into the support to fit the mechanical fan. Might want to think about that.
That's what happens when you inherit dodge problems😂 all jokes aside if your block is bored over maybe the cylinder walls to thin and will cause overheating issues I've added extra heat exchangers with fans(made from heater cores stuck in the fender wells) on a GTO judge with a 400 that was punched out .60 over another thing I noticed is you need to seal your fan shroud to rad shouldn't have gaps that will suck air around the rad instead of through it same with condenser to rad (I ran a a/c shop we sealed them with foam squeezed between and sticky foam tape around the outside)
yea, I'm gonna be sealing this one up too.
hi had same problem with my 80 sub on 40s swapped in 496bb 600hp big rad duel fans .ran hot found there was not enough free air flow with just elec fan holes cut think of a stock mech fan shrowd hole is.cut my aluminum shrowd around elec fans 5in more to get free air flow does not over heat know
Bummer!
I’m not familiar with diesel but 2k rpm and 10psi boost would cause major heat problems in a gas engine. I would think you would want to be at 4k rpm to lower the load.
AAA TO THE RESCUE!
nah, not this time. Help from some kind strangers and I was on my way!
What gauges are you running for your dash cluster
Dakota Digital
The only thing that counts is getting up after you get knocked down. Failure is the crucible that forges winners. Keep at it, you'll get it figured out.
The obstacle is the way 👍🏻
You've overheated that thing so many times I'd throw a head gasket at it.
No offense, but those fans will never keep up. You need like 6-10,000 cfm. I see plenty of space for a mechanical fan, you don't need the clutch. I've had good luck with a mechanical flex fan on a chronic overheater and no shroud.
100% agree. I see his problems as many little things but ditching the electric fans is one that will help the most. Those Cummins fans pull some air! Electrics are awesome for alot of things but nothing pulls as hard as a big mechanical fan. There’s a reason big rigs and current HD diesels use mechanical fans still.
Not using enough antifreeze will cause thermostat to stick
I think you are onto something.
what about straight engine ice bub...??
I dont't think the boost is the prob. I think its thermostat and fans
What radiator are you using the second gen dodge radiator and intercooler is the best to use in the squarebody trucks.
I just died 5 times leaving the shop with a new transmission. Battery died and I had to put 31 gallons in the tank.
Maybe extra electric fans can turn on any time ? , low on anti freeze, think straight water gets hotter than with antifreeze ,, get coolest thermostat , think 160° one
Once I get this all sorted, I am going to be running Evans Waterless Coolant exclusively. I ordered a new Cummins Factory thermostat. I think it was the 175
Maybe i should keep my mouth shut, but I had a 6.2 burb and a 6.2 winnebago…even with the best hd radiator they’d get hot going up hill. Can you fit the radiator out of a ram that was matched to the cummins? Or did you do that already?
It looks like he’s running the stock dodge radiator. Which is huge, mostly wider than a typical Chevy big block 4 row.
Why didn't you cut the thermostat open before filling it back up for the return trip ?
cause I wasn't thinking properly. The heat must have got to me!
@@MerricksGarage that happens lol
how would you feel if you were a cummins and had lived most of your life comfortable in a dodge and someone snatched you out of your home you loved and stuck you into a chevy truck somewhere you were never meant to be got to be scarry
ha ha
Should of kept it chevy
How’s the steering on that thing? Tight?
perfect. It drives great. I have hydro assist, and sway bar and high steer.
hi
What gear ratio are you using
4.10
2000cfm is that per fan or is that together
per fan
Do you have a shroud? Is the fan manual or electric? Is your radiator 4 core?
four core with elec fans
Man what a shit show!!! Sorry man…solved it yet??? Thx for the great videos!!!