rear radiator question

[BPB]

Has anyone done a rear mounted radiator on an mj? I have seen it on some buggies and wondered if there is a benefit? also would you need a beefier water pump to push the water that far?

[mvusse]

Radiators work best when there is airflow going through them. That is a lot easier to do up front than in the back. Mounted in the back it is essentially sitting in an eddy behind the cab and you need to do some tricks to divert air toward it. Buggies do not usually have a "cab" to block anything.

 

Any reason you want to move it from it's stock location?

[BPB]

My next project is to tube out the back of my mj. I thight that it would look cool to have the radiator on the back cage.

[Pete M]

It would look cool. :D But it's not really all that functional unless you're racing. Otherwise I gotta imagine it's just a hot radiator sitting up there all the time with the fans running in your ear. :dunno:

[BLHTAZ]

Yea...there is no benefit to having a remote mounted radiator. The last one I saw rolled on a trail ride and when the radiator busted, the hot liquid put 3rd degree burns on 15% of the girl's body riding in the passenger seat. :wall:

[DirtyComanche]

I have one... The only reason for it is the 4.0L rad is wide, and would not fit with my narrowed clip.

 

It worked well enough. I had issues, but that was my fault. However, it's totally bizzar because the coolant throughout the entire system gets to very different temperatures depending on the ambient temperature, engine load, and the fans... The temp would normally come up pretty hard - then the thermostat would open and the temperature would drop about 30 degrees in a couple seconds... Whenever I get back to it, I will drill a hole in the tstat to prevent it from swinging so violently. I also think I need a higher flow water pump. I would have to push the rpm up to about 1000 or it would over-heat at idle (albiet, idle is about 250rpm), just from lack of flow...

 

To do it ALL over again, I would avoid the whole rear-mount setup. It was a huge PITA to bleed it. And you've got to run two hoses from the front of the engine to the back of the cab. Which might sound easy, but it isn't. Especially if you were contending with having factory wiring/interior of some sorts. I ran the one hose through the firewall where the fuse box was before, and the other through where the HVAC blower used to go. I couldn't come up with an acceptable method of running it under the cab. There isn't space between the frame rails with a tcase, driveshafts, link suspension, exhaust, etc. And you can't put it near the exhaust, or it won't work well at all... I thought about running it through some of my exo-cage or the sliders. This MIGHT have been a decent option, but the risk is you will damage your cage to the extent that you lose your coolant. And it would be even harder to bleed the system, not to mention having 'heated' rock sliders wouldn't be the best thing. If the uniframe wasn't the way it is, I'd actually try putting a hose inside the frame rails.