converting to a electric radiator fan?

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Benengel

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Hey Team,
my radiator fan is on its way out, either the bearing or something is slogged and the fan isn't spinning centrally on the shaft anymore and you can move the assembly back a fourth quiet a bit.
instead of getting a new clutch and fan i was thinking of just throwing on a electric fan instead? is this a good or bad idea?
any ideas would be great.
if i was to go electric i would throw in a wading switch as well so i can turn the fan off if going through deep water. and will have the fan on as constant power and use a relay and have to so it turns on as soon as the truck does etc.

cheers if you decoded this and got any input
 
electric fans simply do not pull anywhere near as much air through as the mechanical fans do.

some guys convert diesels to electric fan due to water crossings. but they rarely have any great load on the. also having the fan on before you need it can work ok.

but if you run fully loaded, highway speeds or towing, then electric fan = overheating.
 
It depends on the fan. Over here falcon thermo fans aren't bad, not sure if there's many wrecked ones over there, but the old models used clutch fans and from ef model onwards used thermo fans that work quite well.

They are good for low speed bush work too as you can run them on high speed. The ef falcon onwards ones are a twin fan setup and pull quite a lot of air, in the falcons they are set up with 2 speed settings, I'm pretty sure Davies Craig do a 2 speed controller that you can use for them from memory (not sure if they're only in Aus or you can get them over there too).

The main disadvantage is how much extra electrical load they put on the electrical system. If you've got a lot of lights and other electrical stuff going on, it may not be a great idea as especially at night you'll probably end up drawing more power than the alternator can put out.
 
Awesome cheers for the advice guys,
Was under the impression electric was the way to go at the start as it was always pumping and would help in traffic and 4wding but by the sounds of it, it isn't what it seems.
Also the added load on the alternator may not be the best idea
 
with a diesel, crawling in traffic and a lot of 4wd crawling, doesn't heat up the engine like it does with a petrol. diesels really only heat up once they are get big load placed on them.

even those big twin fans pull nothing like what a mech fan does. a mech uses a huge amount of power to drive it, which is why they are 'clutched' and controlled by a thermostat.
my mem for an electric one to match it you would need to use a starter motor to drive the fan.
 
For a road going 4wd there's probably not a lot of benefit, but the comp trucks that have remote mount radiators have to run thermo fans and don't seem to have many problems with overheating. It can be done, look at all the small cars these days with diesel motors in them that are front wheel drive, no clutch fans in them.

There are pros and cons but the biggest thing is a decent shroud. You can have all the fans in the world, but without a properly designed shroud they will be crap.
 
I can't see any major issues with running a powered electric fan. As long as it's a pulling fan and not a pusher fan.
You can wire it through a relay which will only draw minimum power from the alternator.
The technology was different then and clutch fans were the rage.
I say go for it.
 
It depends on the fan. Over here falcon thermo fans aren't bad, not sure if there's many wrecked ones over there, but the old models used clutch fans and from ef model onwards used thermo fans that work quite well.

They are good for low speed bush work too as you can run them on high speed. The ef falcon onwards ones are a twin fan setup and pull quite a lot of air, in the falcons they are set up with 2 speed settings, I'm pretty sure Davies Craig do a 2 speed controller that you can use for them from memory (not sure if they're only in Aus or you can get them over there too).

The main disadvantage is how much extra electrical load they put on the electrical system. If you've got a lot of lights and other electrical stuff going on, it may not be a great idea as especially at night you'll probably end up drawing more power than the alternator can put out.

Hi bods, I had an AU 1 Tonner for 8 years from new. 242K, all of it towing; it was a good workhorse, but it was high maintenance. I had overheating problems quite a bit. Got stuck out on the road with it a few times. Don't get me started on 2 worn out AT boxes lol, or the driver's seat falling apart lol.

I've had D22's for 9 years, the current one for 6 years, all towing, exactly the same work as the Falcon; it's never had a spanner on it, other than services/tyres/one set of batteries.
 
Hi bods, I had an AU 1 Tonner for 8 years from new. 242K, all of it towing; it was a good workhorse, but it was high maintenance. I had overheating problems quite a bit. Got stuck out on the road with it a few times. Don't get me started on 2 worn out AT boxes lol, or the driver's seat falling apart lol.



I've had D22's for 9 years, the current one for 6 years, all towing, exactly the same work as the Falcon; it's never had a spanner on it, other than services/tyres/one set of batteries.

Yeah, sounds about right for the auto boxes in them. They had bad issues with the transmission coolers leaking into the radiator and coolant leaking into the gearbox too. External coolers were the go for them a bit like the d40s...
 
While I had the AU, we bought a cast off speed camera car for my wife at the Govt auctions. It was a BA wagon with about 40K on the clock from memory. My wife hated it, but we kept it 9 years (I loved it)

It only ever towed about 4-5 hours the whole time we had it, I think we put about the same K's on it as I did the AU Ute. Apart from the alternator issue because of fluid leaking onto it from above, it never had a spanner on it.

It still had the original "Ford" spark plugs in it until about 6 weeks before we traded it on her Pajero. We'd paid to have them replaced on service several times while we owned it, but it seems we got ripped off.

Reliability between the 2 Fords we owned was chalk & cheese. But so was how we used them (towing vs not towing)
 
For a road going 4wd there's probably not a lot of benefit, but the comp trucks that have remote mount radiators have to run thermo fans and don't seem to have many problems with overheating. It can be done, look at all the small cars these days with diesel motors in them that are front wheel drive, no clutch fans in them.
a lot of it is down to load. cars simply do not place a large load on the engine. they don't do full throttle, low speed for long periods of time.
same for a lot of 4wd's. its high throttle for a short time.
towing and things like beach runs really put a lot of load on.

I can't see any major issues with running a powered electric fan. As long as it's a pulling fan and not a pusher fan.
You can wire it through a relay which will only draw minimum power from the alternator.
The technology was different then and clutch fans were the rage.
I say go for it.
if its uses electrical power it puts a load on the alternator. doesn't matter how you wire it that will not change.

you also have to remember that a mechanical fan is fair bit of expense for a manufacture, plus it has to design the engine and radiator placement so the fan can work. i think its toyota that has a few engines that have hydraulically powered fans to get around the issue of engine placement etc. $$$$
electric fans are cheaper and far far easier to design around. so there is a very good reason why they still use mechanical fans.
 

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