Up 'till now I have spent most all of my time over on the 1st gen. forum. But now the body is literally falling off. The plan was to stuff the motor in a '67 - '72 Crew Cab Ford. The only reason I am not doing this is because I can't get a big enough radiator for it.

So I have decided to look around for an '03 - '07 5.9 cummins auto. Before I buy one though, I want to know if there is a better radiator out there for these trucks.

I don't want to be told that the stock radiator is good enough. I am a horsepower addict. If I get one, it will get chipped and will tow a minimum of 25K (total gross) quite often in 100+* weather.

 

Off the shelf I doubt you'll find what you need. Not a big deal, though. Just call Ron Davis Radiators and tell them what you need. http://www.rondavisradiators.com/custom.htm They have a good reputation with the hot rod crowd.

Griffen also has a good rep. I have one of their radiators in my race car. I'm not sure if the do custom parts any more, though.

Or, consider adapting one from something like a small 'dozer.

 

I haven't read too many complaints on here of not having enough cooling capacity. The stock radiator seems to handle just about anything you can throw at it, if not then it just needs to be cleaned. I'd wait and see if you truly need one.

 

Ok wont tell you they are fine because you don't want to hear it but ill tell you that my 07 has 90% of the fins smashed flat thanks to my kids when they were little and it'll still pull 10k up hill at any speed in 100+ deg temps ac blasting without getting hot...... But I didn't tell you that!

 

I live in the desert of west Texas and often drive into Arizona as well. I have towed in 110°+ temps with the A/C blowing cold and never see over 210° on the gauge. These radiators are VERY efficient if you keep them clean and the correct ratio of coolant to water. Mine is about 60/40

 

I just want to make sure I have an option if I need it. My brother, mother, grandma, and grandpa each have an '05 cummins and have no problems heating. They just don't have the horsepower bug.

I thought I saw an all metal (copper brass) radiator for these trucks one time but I can't find it. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Also, What year trucks had the aluminum intercooler? Mom's '05 does, but the rest of our didn't. My brother got one out of an '03. Did the early '05's have them and the later ones have plastic?

 

All had all aluminum intercoolers except for the 05' trucks. In mid year 05', they went back to all aluminum intercoolers. The 05' trucks had the plastic end tank intercooler that would develop a leak. So it was a half year run.

 

I remember reading on another forum that Pure Diesel Power modified the stock radiator to better utilize the entire radiator core. The thread had reviews from a few people who had the modified radiator who were very satisfied with it. The price for this was something like $800 but you got back $400 for a core charge.

There is also a radiator offered by Mishimoto, but it is around $800. I've never heard from anyone who has it.

 

I agree that you can never have a radiator that is too big.

When towing our 10k lbs 5th wheel in the hot summer with the A/C cranked, my bumped up truck will go to 210F with the stock 190F thermostat.
I wish it would peak at about 200F. I have an aftermarket Autometer water temp gauge.
BTW, my larger BD intercooler had no effect on keepings things cooler.


There have been discussions about larger radiators for the 3rd Gen Dodge.

Built Tough Rads has a larger rad option but I'm not aware of any updates to the fitment issue and their website hasn't been updated for a while.

http://www.btr-radiator.com/PartsLis...&id4=-1&id5=-1


Here is another discussion on larger 3rd Gen radiators:

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/3r...-any-good.html

 

Had to do some digging but here is a link to the thread I mentioned.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/07...-radiator.html

 

I just read all 5 pages of that thread. Nobody actually says what the mod is. Just that they make the bottom 1/3 useful.

 

[QUOTE=StealthDiesel;3185792]I agree that you can never have a radiator that is too big.

Not true. Overcooling can have very damaging consequences. That's why marine heat exchangers need to be properly sized for the raw water temperatures encountered and big road rigs all have variable shutters in front of their radiators.

 

Ask your local rebuilder about an I core. I used one on an excavator and it speced to hold 22% more coolant than the stock core of the same size. It worked well.

 

If someone were handy with fiberglass, a better shroud would help. My shroud is so close to the core in the ,hardly any air sucks thru the corners. Also, if you had one built, bigger face area is WAY more important than more rows cuz the approach is the highest at the leading row and goes down at following rows. Hence, a big single row is the best which is what AC mfgrs are finally doing. Craig

 

I would guess the mods he does is to baffle it so it has to flow thru the entire radiator.
Also, they speak of increasing the water flow thru the radiator.
That is wrong.
What is needed is to increase the TIME the water is in it.
This is done by increasing the voluum of the radiator.

I would also, if you are having trouble keeping it cool, add the valve to let flow from the rear of the head move better.