LLY: putting a 2006 electric fan in a 2005 diesel?

[JS2TZU]

My wife has a 2006 1500 CC, with an electric fan. My 2005 dually has the regular fan in it, my wife is thinking of trading in her truck for a new Tahoe and Im thinking of swapping her fan for mine.

Ive checked and doubled check and it looks like its gonna be an easy swap to do the 2, Im wondering if there is anything that I should really pay more attention too? Im thinking of bypassing the thermostat and hooking the fan to a keyed on accesory.

Will this be a good swap? Im just trying to free up a little more ponies if I could.

Any comments good and bad are greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike L.]

If your CC is a Duramax you will overheat.

 

[JS2TZU]

If your CC is a Duramax you will overheat.

yes its a duramax and thanks 4 the quick response. I guess I cant do it. would you recomend putting in an aftermakrket dual fan system?

 

[Brian1]

If you don't pull trailer or do any hard takes off it would work but pulling trailer and hard takes off you can't get enough cooling from electric fans. They can not pull enough and don't free flow well either. Plus are restritive when no using. You have a radiator, intercooler, trans cooler that all need cooling. Duramax does not lose much power turning the fan when it kicks in when you need it. I see no benefit in HP or mileage gain going electric over stock clutch fan.

Brian

 

[dmaxfireman]

x2 on the above, i would leave the stock fan in if you actually use your truck as a truck

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

The stock fan pulls ALOT of air when it kicks in. I ended up running both the engine driven and an electric out in front as a pusher on mine though. I didn't get enough airflow with just the engine fan to be able to run both airs in mine at idle and in traffic, so I added in a 10" out in front for just the condenser.

 

[JS2TZU]

thanks guys Im glad I asked b4 I did it.

 

[Dozerboy]

A few guys had good result with electric fans. They claimed 2MPG and 30 HP IIRC the take a lot of power when its engaged. I took my stocker off one winter and you could feel it I didn't notice any MPG change, but thats hard for me to judge with my commute. I even towed my empty 24' enclosed trailer without a fan with temps in the mid 60s and a few small grades it didn't overheat. I think on the basic set up it was good for 10K, but TX was working on HD unit that would require dual alts. to run. You could add a secondary rad with the basic unit and be ok for MGVWR. TX site is TheDieselSpot

 

[JS2TZU]

A few guys had good result with electric fans. They claimed 2MPG and 30 HP IIRC the take a lot of power when its engaged. I took my stocker off one winter and you could feel it I didn't notice any MPG change, but thats hard for me to judge with my commute. I even towed my empty 24' enclosed trailer without a fan with temps in the mid 60s and a few small grades it didn't overheat. I think on the basic set up it was good for 10K, but TX was working on HD unit that would require dual alts. to run. You could add a secondary rad with the basic unit and be ok for MGVWR. TX site is TheDieselSpot

I felt a big difference in H/P and mileage in both of my gas trucks when I switched to electric and was hoping to get the same with my diesel. mid 60s? thats freezing around these parts!:rofl: If it ever dipped below 70 here no one would leave there houses!

 

[carcrafter22]

You guys are funny. I run dual taurus electric fans for the past 2.5 years now towing a little over 12,000 pound gooseneck trailer here in Texas with 0 overheat problems. I gained a solid 2 mpg's, didnt really notice any power increase unless you want to consider when the factory fan was going full bore every morning or if the truck had sat outside during a hot summer day then its a huge difference, maybe 50hp or more but thats just a guess. I can say when the mechannical fan is goin full blast it sucked the life out of my motor my electric fans never do that, oh and my a/c blows colder when sitting in traffic thanks to the fans.

 

[Dozerboy]

I forgot about you and others that tried the Taurus fans. About how much $$ do you have in the install? Did you ever do much of a write up or post any pics of the install? I'd like to do them, but $600 for TXs kit is more then I would like to spend.

 

[MFDinosaur]

I have the dual Taurus setup as well. The write-up and long thread can be found on that other forum. Low Cost Electric Fan Alternative I think. Also, TurboTug has a bit of a write-up around here somewhere as well. You could also search for Taurus and you'll see people who have the fans and their impressions and also plenty of feedback from skeptics. My setup cost me around $300 I think. But I used a couple of expensive controllers. You could get by much cheaper depending on how much you spend on the fans and which controllers you use. I've also towed a 11K fifth wheel loaded for a long weekend, 4 adults, 1 Kid, & 86 gallons of fuel, & firewood with no issues. My truck weighs around 7200 lbs. I have an LB7 which is probably the best engine for the fans since they have less overheat issues. If you install fans, you just need to remember that you have compromised your towing capacity. It'll just take some experimenting to figure out by how much. Around where I tow, I also don't have the long drawn out grades that go on for miles that can wreak havoc on a cooling system. One thing I would recommend for towing would be a larger transmission cooler, but didn't have a problem with my stock cooler. BTW, dual alternators are not necessary. That's a myth. I have a single 145A with no issues.

Pros:
Cooler AC when idling
Faster warm-up when cold
Better Mileage
No jet engine roar
Some HP gains especially when warm
Can custom configure your fan engagement
More front engine clearance

Cons:
Compromised towing capacity
Electronics can fail (suggest redundancy)
Fan Motors fail
Increased electrical load on alternator/charging system when running

PM if you want to discuss more.

 

[Turbotug]

My thread

Still going strong. I did have to replace the fuse holder and some of the 10ga. wire. I believe there was somewhat of a bad connection, where the set screw pinches the wire, and caused it to melt. New fuse holder, a power distribution block, and some short sections of wire fixed it up. Been good for 6 months or so... Finally wired it to come on with the A/C too

 

[carcrafter22]

I used 4 bosch relays that can handle up to 90 amps but are still small (standard relay size), both fans are wired seperately so if one fails the other is still there so I could at least park any trailer I have and go get it fixed if needed. I have lots of pics in the thread over on dp but here are a couple more.

 

[Dozerboy]

Thanks guys Turbotug your link didn't work

 

[Turbotug]

Hmm, try here.

 

[JS2TZU]

Hmm, try here.

intresting reading there tug. since its been over a year for you know has there been any issues that have come up?

I do tow a a 26 ft trailer with 3 or 4 tons of trash weekly so longevity is an issue. A couple of things that Im not worried about thats a problem for you mainlanders is the outside temps that you guys have and the grades of hill that you guys face, its pretty much high 70s to mid 80s constantly here and hill grades are pretty much non existent here.