XJ: My first 4x4 (Not the last)

[oldon]

Do all the radiators leak in the same place mate? Where did you get them, all the same place? Have you been offered replacements? Lots of questions, but it may help someone. Regards oldon.

[Aaron89]

Originally Posted by oldon

Do all the radiators leak in the same place mate? Where did you get them, all the same place? Have you been offered replacements? Lots of questions, but it may help someone. Regards oldon.

Well the 3 pictured all leaked from the drivers side, where the core meets the tank. Poor brazing there I think. That is the hot/inlet side, so my theory is when you switch the engine off, the heat soak to that side of the radiator from the hot engine expands the alloy enough to break the weak joints. They all failed after stopping the engine.

All purchased from ebay, from an "aussie" seller, apart from the first radiator; It was fitted when I bought the Jeep.

I don't think I ended up out of pocket at all. They were replaced on warranty, and all I had to do was send them pictures.
The current radiator leaked from a weld, as I was pouring in coolant. I had had enough and got a full refund for that one.
Used alloy sealant and a long-term type stop leak and here we are lol.

Be aware though, I went to purchase a 5th radiator from a completely different seller, turns out it was the same company, running multiple ebay stores. I cancelled that order before they posted it.
So the chances are, 90% of the alloy radiators on ebay are from the same company, and it doesn't look like they pressure test anything off the line.

[Richard buttocks]

that richard guy aint a bad bloke...

[Aaron89]

Bit overdue for an update.
Remounted the vacuum booster thingamabob. It had been floating around near the airbox since the front bar install.

Now resides behind the lower radiator support:



Then I got real bored, and for some unknown reason, decided to spend 4 weekends building a heavy duty roof rack.

Picked up some steel:



Used some very tight pre-formed bends:



I don't claim to be great at welding at all, but practice makes perfect, and I'm getting plenty of practice in and it's starting to show (I hope).

A little bit of TIG welding:



And a little bit of MIG welding:





I MIG welded the majority of the rack, just for speed. And I still spent a fair amount of time on the welder.

The finished product:



Now I'm not overly happy with it, mostly because I'm a perfectionist and I set my goals very high (out of reach most of the time).
But I'm still happy I can say I built this myself. It came in at a hefty 37kg, but after some research it turns out that's nothing to be concerned about. Off the shelf items for many vehicles can be over 40kg.
It's made to be very low profile, sitting about 15mm off the center of the roof, and includes light mounts left, right and rear.
Light install is coming soon, hold your horses. Plenty to do before I can fit them.

Anyhow, ended up fitting a new trans oil cooler. Trying to get as much heat away from the radiator as practical, since I've just cracked the 4th rad in 8 months. New one on the way.

Not where I wanted it, but the only place it would fit:



More pics/updates to come soon.

And could someone point me in the direction of a moderator that can change the silly name of this thread please?

[genericuser]

Did you make your radiator fan mount?

[Aaron89]

Originally Posted by genericuser

Did you make your radiator fan mount?

98% of it, yes. When I picked up the alloy, I got the shop to put a 90 degree bend at the bottom with measurements I gave them, to have somewhere for tabs to be fixed.

[genericuser]

Great work on it! I was kinda hoping that you just purchased; because I have been wanting to do an 4 fan set up on mine.