M880 radiator,

[N1265]

The Radiator in my '77 M880 needs replaced, the manual says it's a "super cooling system" witch some guys on another forum say is a radiator out of a truck with AC or a pre 1972 radiator.

Can anybody here confirm this ?

Or have the actual part numbers for the radiator and water pumps ?

Many Thanks,

 

[NDT]

Yes on the super cooling, radiator has an extra row of core.

 

[Bob H]

Radiator & Water pump on the M880's are the civi air conditioning version.

 

[N1265]

Well, They cant seem to find a radiator for a truck with AC at autozone / advance auto, The best they can tell me is they have one with a 22in core. However the radiator in my truck roughly measures 26 x 18 x 1 3/4

from my research, the closest thing I can find to these measurements are :

AC Delco : # 21061 25 1/2 x 18 x 1 7/8 $240.

Spectra : # CU889 26.25 X 18 x 1.875 in. $283.

Does anybody any success with either if these two radiators ?

Does anybody have a part number of a radiator that they have used with success ?

Has anybody tried an upgrade to an aluminum radiator ?

Or does anybody have a OEM part number that I can cross reference ?

Many Thanks,

 

[Blake]

Napa nr-889

Spectra b-889 (autozone)

try those

 

[nattieleather]

How about this from Autozone.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/pa...f2eZ8ii30?itemIdentifier=220855_266534_0_5281

 

[Bob H]

I thought I'd cheap out last year and get one of those aluminum ones. BAD IDEA!
first one I bought was way wrong, I complain and they told me that I ordered the wrong one.
Well I ordered the one they had listed for a w200. The people at Citibank made them eat it.
ref. autopartswarehouse SILLA0961AA won't fit! Will never use them for anything again.

Next one from different source, it was close, I was able to re mount the brackets for the proper tilt and had to zip tye the shroud to it. ref partsgeek Radiator $130.85 Part #: 8010959


The 889 ones posted above are they way to go.
About 6 years back I got a new(correct) one for about $120, triple that now.

Again the inexpensive aluminum ones are not a direct replacement.

 

[nattieleather]

The link I posted you have to tell it a 1977 Dodge W200 with 5.2L V8. with AC. It looks like it's all copper to me and the size is about the same. Close to $300 bucks so that's in the price you're talking about Bob.

 

[N1265]

I started to pull the radiator today to see just how bad it was before ordering a new CU889. The first thing I pulled was the overflow tank and found that the return line was cracked near the radiator filler neck. That's when I remembered that back in '06 the truck overheated on me because of a faulty radiator cap. So I put another new cap on it and replaced that cheep return line with 2' of 1/4in fuel line and so far no leaks.

I suspect that the cap was going bad again causing it to vent into the overflow tank, witch because of the bad hose was allowing the coolant to run down the inside of the radiator between the core and the shroud.

The moral of the story, is to double check your diagnosis before you order parts. ( kinda like measuring twice, cutting once )

Many Thanks for all your help, I hope my luck holds out until the next power ball drawing

 

[michigandon]

Why not just have your existing one recored?

That's what I intend on doing.

 

[N1265]

Well that did not last long and I had to order a new radiator, Found them on sale at Autozone (on line) for $169. with free shipping. ( Tough one / Ready rad part #433889 )

All the measurements appear to be the same but there are two major differences with this replacement and the orginal in the truck.

1) 2 core instead of a 3 core. ( even though it was listed as a 3 core radiator )

2) Plastic tanks instead of copper.

I can proably live with the plastic tanks ( everything else I own has them ), But will I run into problems with going with a 2 core ? will it handle the flow from the water pump ?

And what is the difference from the water pumps with a truck that had A/C ?

 

[Bob H]

IIRC the difference in the water pumps is std - 5 vanes A/C - 7 vanes
Externally the same.

a 2 core just cools slower than a 3 core, so stay out of the desert and you should be fine.

 

[N1265]

Does the 3 core keep the trans fluid signifantly cooler ?

I don't plan on taking it in the desert, but I do plow with it and I am not exactly sure how the radiator keeps the trans fluid cool ...

 

[Bob H]

Trans cooler is in the bottom tank and only gets cooled to the temp of the coolant or warmed to the temp of the antifreeze in the winter. You could add an auxillary trans cooler but keep the fluid running through the radiator also.

 

[N1265]

For those of you following this thread :

I got the radiator in the truck today and took it out for a 50 mile drive with no cooling issues.

However, I did have to modify the filler neck ( plastic ) to get the new radiator cap on. It appears that the OD of the filler neck ( where the cap locks on to ) is to big for the cap to go on all the way, so I had to take a file around it to make it a little bit smaller.

With the exception of needing to replace the transmission lines ( due to rust ) The rest of the install was straight forward.

Also, another big difference that I overlooked in a previous post is the fact that this radiator is an aluminum core.