Are Ron Davis Racing Radiators worth the money?
- Thread starter Cumsterdump
- Start date
OK, think about this:How would it be better than stock Mopar if the stock radiator keeps a TJ at the temp it's designed to run? How many people with a TJ have a Ron Davis radiator still going strong after 23 years?
Chrysler began developing the redesigned 1-row aluminum core radiator for the TJ in 1998.
28 year old technology designed for a world — and temperatures — we no longer live in.
I did some digging:
1998: the average annual temperature for the contiguous United States was 54.62°F.
According to the latest year-to-date climate data released by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, this 2026 seven-month stretch tracks at 4.2°F above the 20th-century average. This makes the first part of 2026 the second-warmest start to a year in 132 years of national record-keeping. July 2026 averaged 76.9°F, officially making it the hottest single month ever recorded in U.S. history.
Summary and point: it's a different world today.
OEM plastic tank radiators are cracking — mondo heat + aging. Mine cracked a few years ago after living for 17+ years in surface-of-the-sun temps of South Florida. All things considered, it's impressive it lasted as long as it did (routine flushes/maintenance helped) I dropped in a Champion all-aluminum radiator and added a SPAL 16" 2,500 cfm puller. I'm now living in the high-desert of New Mexico — it's been mid-high 90s/100+ for months — so far so good.
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How many miles on these two radiators? One trip to the grocery store and no problems, so far?
You are getting closer to something useful. 3 and 20+ years parked with no problems?
The OEM Mopar radiator has a known history of surviving 100k miles.
Same goes for mRNA vaccines...
KennethS
TJ Expert
A while back one of our local meteorologists here in the blazing hot desert explained that the daytime high temperatures aren’t any hotter than they used to be, but due to urban sprawl the night time temperatures don’t drop as much as they used to. This makes the “average” temperatures higher than they used to be before we poured concrete all over the natural environment.
Yep, all that concrete has a profound effect. I remember riding my motorcycle in Phoenix during the summer at night. As soon as you'd get out of the city on Highway 60 and hit Superior, you could feel the temperature drop significantly.
Wow, a whopping 4.2°F. Thankfully the engines don’t run 100° above that. Oh, wait….
KennethS
TJ Expert
Yeah, driving with the top down and passing by a golf course I can feel the temperature drop. Then going under an overpass the heat radiating from above is oppressive.
Does that mean we should also be changing the head gasket every 5000 miles?
You’ve probably spent too many thousands on your Jeep already so go for it. Besides it says Racing and it’s built in “MERICA”. What more could you want.
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