Radiator removal help

LiftMore

LiftMore

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Maryland, USA
I'm replacing my radiator with a new one that will be here tomorrow. Should be easy? Just a few bolts and hoses right? Nope. I got all the hoses off and all the bolts off except for the last two. They are rounded off and I can't get anything to bite on them in the tight space. I figured I'd just pull off the whole grill and that was going well until I found out there's two hoses that I think belong to the AC compressor? 10mm too big, 9mm way too small, 3/8 just a tad too small so I'm thinking they are 10mm that got rounded off from the last installer. Any ideas?
 
LiftMore said:
I'm replacing my radiator with a new one that will be here tomorrow. Should be easy? Just a few bolts and hoses right? Nope. I got all the hoses off and all the bolts off except for the last two. They are rounded off and I can't get anything to bite on them in the tight space. I figured I'd just pull off the whole grill and that was going well until I found out there's two hoses that I think belong to the AC compressor? 10mm too big, 9mm way too small, 3/8 just a tad too small so I'm thinking they are 10mm that got rounded off from the last installer. Any ideas?
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I just installed a new OEM radiator last night. The bottom two nuts were 7/16" on mine. They don't need to come off all the way because the radiator has slots that slip over the bolt. I got to mine from the side through wheel well. Helps also if your wheel wells don't have the inner liner.
 
I just checked one of the bolts I successfully removed with my 10mm and it definitely is not 7/16. I have given up for the night, but I think I may have enough gap after removing all bolts holding the grill to the body so I can get a set of vise-grips in to get them out. I'll just have to go slow and be patient tomorrow with it. If that doesn't work I'll need to purge my AC system and disconnect it. I haven't used my AC for years anyway.
 
What years is your jeep? an how would ac lines be involved in taking out the radiator? I just loosened the bolts, took off the coolant hoses, an the transmission lines. an slide it up an out. didnt have to take the grill off. got me puzzled:)
 
It's a 2000. I'm not sure what the lines are to be honest, just assuming it is AC related. The bottom two bolts on both sides of the radiator are rounded off and none of my sockets are able to grab. There isn't enough room in there to get to them with vise grips so I was going to try to pull it off with the grill. Here's a picture of what I'm dealing with.

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SUCCESS! Ended up grinding the bolt on the driver's side down and was able to loosen the passenger side enough to lift it out.

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Yeah, this needed replacing.
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Wow, that radiator looks like it was used as a back stop at a shooting range.

Replacing the radiator in my wife's Dodge caravan today.
I think all Chrysler products should come with a replacement radiator. :D
 
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Bird said:
Wow, that radiator looks like it was used as a back stop at a shooting range.

Replacing the radiator in my wife's Dodge caravan today.
I think all Chrysler products should come with a replacement radiator. :D
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This is the second one for this TJ. I didn't install the first one. That was back in the days when I trusted others to touch my girl.


My wife said to me this morning, "You were trying to sell this thing 2 weeks ago and now you spend all your time with it again. It's like an ex-girlfriend that came back."

Now off to tractor supply to try to match up some new bolts. My fan shroud was only being held on by one bolt and zip-ties. That was my doing when I changed the water pump a few years ago and the bolts sheared off.
 
Well, the radiator showed up soon after I returned with replacement bolts. Not sure about this radiator. Does anyone else think that this would affect how well the hose seals?

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Don't want to risk it. At the dealership now getting a mopar replacement. Jerry swears by them so good nuff for me.

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All done. No leaks so far and I got it up to 210. I'm waiting for it to cool down so I can top it off again.

Dang fan shroud bolts from the old radiator to the new one don't match up. Waste of a trip to TSC to buy bolts. I have it on with zip-ties for now.
 
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