5.7L Towing Upgrades (yes, another thread)

[Schurkey]

It takes a REAL electric fan system to better a properly-functioning belt-drive fan-and-thermo-clutch system.

Most folks slap on a crappy under-powered aftermarket system with no louvers in the shroud, and think they've got something.

Might work at idle, or low-load--but without the vents in the shroud, the overheating moves to mid/high speed vehicle operation.

 

[BNielsen]

Made the decision yesterday... electric fan (3500cfm) getting installed. Free up some power.. not sure if that was talked about in this thread or not..

3500CFM won't be enough imo; I've been going back and forth with an e-fan set up on my 454, and what I've come up with is using a set of Flex-A-Lite fans for a Duramax (Model number 284 I think, flows almost 6000CFM) and putting a larger 16 inch pusher fan (3000CFM) in place of the 12 inch stock one on my truck now. Lot of power draw but I've got an AD244 waiting to be swapped in before any of this happens.

Simplicity is key though. I've currently got an S10 11-blade fan on and a Severe Service fan clutch.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I'm hesitant to do an efan on my dually because they can't pull much air at speed.

Fans aren't supposed to move air 'at speed'. Once you're rolling, none of them can move as much air as the wind that's naturally flowing through your radiator. Fans are only there to keep you from overheating when you're sitting in a traffic jam or at a light.

Schurkey's right. Back in the '80s everybody was selling chintzy electric fans, and they were all woefully underpowered. The Flex-A-Lite Black Magic was the first fan I remember that actually moved a decent amount of air, and it was $200 back then (back when you could buy an old musclecar for $500, spend another $500 from the PAW catalog and have a ripper). Now if you get an electric fan off a V8 in the a junkyard, you're relatively safe.

I put electric fans on my truck for about a week, but they hiccuped once, and I went back to the clutch fan. I need reliability on this turd.

 

[JSlezak83]

I've been caught in some nasty winds in it before which knocked it back to 55mph WOT in 2nd gear for a long ass time

Well, that sounds just awful.

 

[Lanny]

Fans aren't supposed to move air 'at speed'. Once you're rolling, none of them can move as much air as the wind that's naturally flowing through your radiator. Fans are only there to keep you from overheating when you're sitting in a traffic jam or at a light.

Schurkey's right. Back in the '80s everybody was selling chintzy electric fans, and they were all woefully underpowered. The Flex-A-Lite Black Magic was the first fan I remember that actually moved a decent amount of air, and it was $200 back then (back when you could buy an old musclecar for $500, spend another $500 from the PAW catalog and have a ripper). Now if you get an electric fan off a V8 in the a junkyard, you're relatively safe.

I put electric fans on my truck for about a week, but they hiccuped once, and I went back to the clutch fan. I need reliability on this turd.

Yes and no.
As stated in the previous posts, sometimes trucks get bogged down and end up at WOT at low speeds. Thats when the fans kick in. Take your truck down the interstate with a load and no fan and you'll probably have some issues.

 

[Supercharged111]

It takes a REAL electric fan system to better a properly-functioning belt-drive fan-and-thermo-clutch system.

Most folks slap on a crappy under-powered aftermarket system with no louvers in the shroud, and think they've got something.

Might work at idle, or low-load--but without the vents in the shroud, the overheating moves to mid/high speed vehicle operation.

I swapped my factory dual fans for a single Spal on my Corvette. Ditching the shroud improved cooling at speed, and because the fan pulled so much more than both stock fans it still cools very well on a hot day. The late C5 fans didn't have the little trap doors/vents like the early ones did. As far as I know, the fan on my 1500 was working properly. It acted similar to my 88 and I did a Ford efan on it with the same results. They both weren't impressive when idling for extended periods when stock.

Fans aren't supposed to move air 'at speed'. Once you're rolling, none of them can move as much air as the wind that's naturally flowing through your radiator. Fans are only there to keep you from overheating when you're sitting in a traffic jam or at a light.

Schurkey's right. Back in the '80s everybody was selling chintzy electric fans, and they were all woefully underpowered. The Flex-A-Lite Black Magic was the first fan I remember that actually moved a decent amount of air, and it was $200 back then (back when you could buy an old musclecar for $500, spend another $500 from the PAW catalog and have a ripper). Now if you get an electric fan off a V8 in the a junkyard, you're relatively safe.

I put electric fans on my truck for about a week, but they hiccuped once, and I went back to the clutch fan. I need reliability on this turd.

When you get stuck wringing out 2nd gear for an extended period of time with a load on, a clutch fan WILL help pull some air through.

Well, that sounds just awful.

3.5mpg and the wheel clocked about 45 degrees going down the interstate.

 

[stutaeng]

Dang! What in the world were you towing? That was with your K1500 or K3500?

 

[Wheeler]

I don’t sit in traffic as I really only use my truck for towing. Where I live in Alberta Canada it doesn’t get crazy hot & no humidity. So much so like I mentioned I did an AC delete. I need heat over cooling! I do tow sometimes at slower speeds but not for too long. I’ve also added a huge Tru Cool Tranny cooler so temps stay down. From what I’ve researched, the hp/tq that gets freed up will make a difference getting the trailer up & moving.. although I don’t have any issues as it is.. the shop knows I built the truck to tow, so they know my requirements.

 

[Supercharged111]

Dang! What in the world were you towing? That was with your K1500 or K3500?

I70 W somewhere in the middle of KS where the wind never doesn't blow. Dually, camper, and trailer, no supercharger.

I don’t sit in traffic as I really only use my truck for towing. Where I live in Alberta Canada it doesn’t get crazy hot & no humidity. So much so like I mentioned I did an AC delete. I need heat over cooling! I do tow sometimes at slower speeds but not for too long. I’ve also added a huge Tru Cool Tranny cooler so temps stay down. From what I’ve researched, the hp/tq that gets freed up will make a difference getting the trailer up & moving.. although I don’t have any issues as it is.. the shop knows I built the truck to tow, so they know my requirements.

Like I said, I did it to my 98 and saw zero performance increase. I did notice a difference when I did it to my 88. 2 different style fan clutches, the later one with plastic fan freewheels effortlessly. I'm only foot stomping this for you for a little expectation management.

 

[Wheeler]

I70 W somewhere in the middle of KS where the wind never doesn't blow. Dually, camper, and trailer, no supercharger.



Like I said, I did it to my 98 and saw zero performance increase. I did notice a difference when I did it to my 88. 2 different style fan clutches, the later one with plastic fan freewheels effortlessly. I'm only foot stomping this for you for a little expectation management.

I’ll report back after the install...