I will soon replace the radiator, and noticed that the one installed now is all plastic top and bottom, any suggestions for a good all metal radiator, perhaps even oversize that could be easily installed there ? Any good experience with one already ?
Is the plastic one in the TJ the OEM type ? If so, I will skip it, not because is MOPAR, but because is plastic.
I hope you never have to defend your family from a group of ill intentioned savages with a Glock. Be a shame to keep them safe with a plastic gun.
My plastic radiator lasted for 17 years until I intentionally took it out. I gave it away to a friend who still has it in his wrangler to this day.
What do you have against it? Its not like they have a track record of early failures.
I've dealt with a few of the oversize full aluminum radiators. If by easily installed you mean removing the grill and modifying stuff to make them fit, then you are correct. If you meant as easy as the Mopar, then not so much.
My XJ oem radiator lasted 20 years. It started leaking a week after I bragged about it lasting 20 years. I won't tell you how old my 03' TJ radiator is.
I still have my original radiator in my XJ. Vehicle was made in 1996. 225k miles and it's still good.
OEM is best. I've had good luck with CSF in other Jeeps, but I can't comment on how they work in a TJ, or what their current quality is like.
Kaptainkid1
TJ Enthusiast
Don't buy champion aluminum radiator or matter a fact any aluminum radiator for TJ. My Champion radiator started leaking only 2 years after purchased new. Thank God champion had a life time warranty but I guess it will leak again since this is a common known problem with aluminum radiator in TJ. I assume this problem happens because of body stresses during offroading and body flex.
My recommendation:
1. Brass radiator
2. Mopar with plastic is very good. 15 year plus average life span.
3. Aluminum radiator
My recommendation:
1. Brass radiator
2. Mopar with plastic is very good. 15 year plus average life span.
3. Aluminum radiator
Obi I have nothing against plastic stuff, I just want the Best most reliable for off road, this Jeep will be doing mostly off road, this is not a ”Hangar Queen” or a “Blin Blin Thing”, metal radiators are more reliable, specially welded covers ones, I had metal ones bend with hits and branches and wrecks, and they still do not leak. Plastic ones are very fine for regular use, no complaints on those, but they do not bend, they crack. I found a good one on the Web, all metal direct bolt on, I just one input on a specific brand for yey or ney.
Thats the advise I was looking for. Brass welded-covers ones are the best for off road, thats what I am shooting for. Maybe an oversize one upgrade.
It can't be all plastic.
I have none.
Oversize and easily installed usually don't belong together in a sentence.
My experience with a Griffin radiator is that I paid twice as much as a MOPAR replacement, it began leaking after about two years and it doesn't cool any better than the OEM radiator did.
Why ask a question if you're just waiting for the answer you want to hear? Maybe you should check out the $99 special at Radiator Barn. 
Funny, that is like Murphys Law, and you forgot to Knock on Wood ?
I have a story..... One day we needed a valve cam in a hurry so we could race next day, so we went to see a guy who also raced, and he had a spare one, and he brought it for us to see it, but he refused to sell it or borrow it, no matter what we tried..... well, as we were leaving, the cam slipped of his hand and hit the ground, and broke in half !!!
Hopefully at something less than another 1000 times of repeating this it will finally become common knowledge. It is a frequent practice for aluminum aftermarket radiator suppliers to blame their crap quality on the TJ Grill Shell.
2 things make them completely full of shit. 1st is the high level of rigidity the grill shell has which anyone can see if they ever have a grill off and it is reinforced further by a V bar brace.
2nd is how the mounting flanges are attached to the factory radiator. They mold in fairly small slots for not more than a nut for a #10 machine screw. The nuts are slid into the slots and the sheet metal flanges are attached that way.
If there were any flex to the grill shell, it would rip those nuts right out of the slots. They just are not that robust.
That was me. I tried to get a fair price and they kept trying to get it for next to nothing. I finally told them I'd rather throw it on the concrete and break it in half that sell it for what they offered.
Good point since there is practically no one on this site that has a Mopar radiator and goes offroad.
If you can get one, there is no better choice than Mopar. Own a TJ long enough and you’ll soon find out why.