Whos re cored there own radiator?

fun job lol i did one on my t 600 near the end of summer took some time to do but was not to bad lots of little bolts and washers id say the worst part was lifting the darn think have a buddy or two handy

 

Have you looked around on the internet for radiator pricing? Mine was only $900 shipped for the whole thing. Just had to bolt it onto the truck...

 

I would call detroit radiator rather than use ebay, I have had really good luck with them and their products. One word of wisdom, take a picture of the brackets on both ends and draw a map of where the flat straps and where the bolts go, some bolts are long and some are short. A good air ratchet will be worth its weight for this project.

This is a very simple and straight forward job imo. The worst part is getting the radiator out and back in the truck. I got it out by myself, but needed help getting it back in, so a second body is nice. I didnt have any lift available then, so it was a pita to get out of a pete, the kennycar will be easier to get out, once the shroud is off there is more jiggle room.

 

i got my core from detroit radiator forgot to say was around 700 shipped

 

I also bought a 4row radiator from Detroit Radiator last year for around $950 shipped. It was for 379 Pete.

 

I actually called the Detroit Radiator and got some discount that way. And I needed complete drop in because my upper and lower tanks were very rusty.

 

I recored my 379's radiator in '05... I bought a core from one of the outfits that advertise heavily in Truck Paper... never again.

Did the job myself.

I paid extra for the 'lifetime warranty', super dooper, extra cooling, 97 core bionic radiator guaranteed to cool the space shuttles rocket boosters (only a slight exaggeration!)... the #### thing leaked from day one.

Cheap Chinese bolts... broke about a dozen before I bought some real Rockford bolts and redid the whole job (luckily before I installed it). The gaskets were another joke... simply did not fit properly. I used a coating of black silicone to make it as good as it would get...

After putting up with the core leak for about 9 months ( it leaked from the lower corner of the core) I called the company I bought it from and they told me "unfortunately we no longer carry that style radiator so we cannot honor the 'lifetime' warranty"... so much for the extra $300.00 I paid for the best!

After 300k it really started to piss out water.

So I added coolant every week for 5 years...

After I hit the drunk iilegal alien in '09, I went to my local radiator shop and inquired about a new radiator. The boss explained that when Peterbilt designed the 379 in the mid-80's they wanted a cooling system that would cool the biggest engines and last 1,000,000 miles... so they had Modine build the radiators. He told me any other radiator, new or core, would last about 300-400K before starting to fail... bingo! That was my deal exactly.

I had a similar problem several years ago when I replaced the rad in my 378... it started leaking after about 200K. That one also came from one of those 'other' shops...

So I bit the bullet and bought a new Modine radiator... $1800.00. Also bought a new OEM charge air cooler and a/c condensor.

I learned my lesson... no more cheap cooling system components on my trucks.