why do i keep loosing radiators?HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like it might be your engine mounts (or mount).

I put my fan into my rad (nicked the top resivour). I got back down onto level ground and started looking around to see if I could fins the problem. My steel mounts had lossened off. All the bolts that go through the frame rails had loose nuts.

I tightened them down and got rolling again. The next hill climb I grazed the rad again. This time we decided to check the rubber mounts. I grabbed the 258 by the valve cover with both hands (wearing gloves), and rocked the engine back and forth. It didn't move much towards the drivers side, but it moved a lot towards the passenger side. That ment that the drivers side rubber mount had torn. A friend confirmed it as I rocked it again. He could see the mount seperate.

We chained the mount and off we went again. No problems for the longest time, until I removed the chain and replaced the torn mount with a new one. First real hill climb after putting the new mount n and it blew again. Chained it down and no problems. I did notice that my less than a year old tranny mount was toast though. All that movement afforded by the broken engine mount tore the tranny mount.

The lesson learned.........Jeep mounts suck. Poly "lock" mounts cost a lot of money, chain is cheap. Get new mounts all around and then chain 'em down. End of problem. Just make sure you allow some "natural" movement when you chain them. The chain should be a "limiter", but only to "over" extension.

jo-jo
'77 CJ5 Fozzy Locker
20 degree RTI 1250
'87 Samurai Stock (for now)

/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif Ah...Tyler, you have the benefit of getting an opinion from my best moonguy-in-chief/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gifof chassis considerations. This moonguy has built them all, sprints, stockers, modifieds....you name it. And here is what he said: "What you have happening is a frame-wracking....that is the frame RAILS are not staying in the same plane. WHICH IS NOT NECESSARILY BAD.....but you have to treat the machine a little differently because of it. He says he was once on a construction job and they were waiting around for the dozer, and when the low bed got there, the truck driver pulled off the road on an angle and suddenly there was a gush of hot water from under the front bumper, and the radiator had split open. WHY???? Because the truck was so heavily loaded with that early model D9 that the axles followed the contour of the ground surface and wracked the frame so much that it took the radiator apart because one side went one way and the other side went the other. Like wise, we have had racers do that, when we were using a lightweight simple channel frame with NO crossmember to LET IT FLEX and get the car to "work" better on a steep asphalt oval track. We had to end up with the radiator mounted in a frame and the frame suspended in special flexible mounts. Some of the early American cars had the radiator framed in a full outer frame which was ITSELF mounted with an angle bracket with two holes, with two long bolts, with a SPRING under each bolt. That allowed the frame to flex and the radiator stayed in it's own little nest, safe and snug. When you went SOA, you made it easier for the axle to get a "lever" on the frame and wrack it. How about making a cage for the radiator, and mount THE CAGE to the Jeep, leaving tons of space for the fan. Mount the cage in such a way as to minimize the movement on the radiator, like just mount it in the center of each vertical cage member? Of course you can add a couple of tubular....must be tubular..crossmembers and that would also help in preventing frame wrack./wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gifMy moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif has a headache/wwwthreads_images/icons/crazy.gif

CJDave
Quadra-Trac modified by the crack moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif transfer case team.