I just got a small leak in the rad on my D7h and I need to pull it out, I am out in a pasture on a job a few miles from a trailer. Can I take the rad out by just taking off the hood and side panels? or do I have to tilt the rad guard forward. I don't have a pump to press out the side pins.
Is this a high track H ?
This is a multi-row radiator with 8 separate cores, right..? If it is and you have a leak in one core then you can disassemble the radiator in situ by first lifting the top tank. It's tight but doable. For the price of a single core if you have a leaker you'd be better off replacing it. Don't lose sight of the fact that your "radiator leak" may not be the cores at all but the seals at the top and bottom of the cores that seal them to the tanks.
It is a high track with the eight cores. I assume I still need to take off the hood and side panels. It is a leak at the bottom, but can't really tell if it is the seal or the core. It looked like the core but couldn't really say for sure. If I lift the top am I going to need to change all the seals at the top?
It depends on what the top tank looks like. If you have the jumper hose style cores you can change them thru the front grill. I thought the d7h would still be the old style with the tank on top of the cores but I would need a serial number to know for sure. If its a folded core rad with the cores mounted on an angle and each core about an inch thick you will have to lean the hardnose ahead to get it out as far as Ive seen.
Ser#79Z001723, it is an 1987 I believe, 8 cores, are all straight across, not on angle, and I am pretty sure they are more than 1" thick.
The tank is on top and they are bolted together across the front.
sorry, guess it would be one of those folded core rads, just looks different, but that is what the book shows, so I believe that is what they would have come with. Would be nice if it had those jumper style. They look like a lot less work.
79Z01723 is - according to the book anyway - the absolute last of a range of tractors from S/N 79Z1508-1723 equipped with folded-core rads. This is what the rad looks like from above. The only way to tell if this is actually what's in the tractor is to eyeball the actual radiator itself through the front grille. Unfortunately I've seen many previous cases where machines right at the extremes of a range of serial numbers like this machine is don't have what the book says installed in them. If you do have a folded core radiator then my experience is that you can unbolt the top tank and lift it just a few inches until it's tight up against the underside of the hardnose. That gives you just enough room to start removing the cores through the front grille one by one starting from the centre of the radiator and working to the sides. As soon as you get the first couple of cores out it all becomes very easy. Once all the cores are out you can replace seals on the top & bottom tanks plus replace cores as required. I always believe in rotating the cores putting the ones that were in the middle to the outsides and the ones that were in the outside in the middle, but that's just me.
Undid top tank and got out one section of the rad, it is not the folded core rad, just 8 big squares, I going to try and get it fixed, because there is just a small hole near the bottom and I think I will rotate them like you said Nige, as I think that is probably a good idea. I'll price out a new one too. It probably isn't the original rad anyways, lots of work been done on it. Here is a picture of one of the sections.
That is deffo NOT a folded core rad, it's this one - which according to "The Book" is not for your Serial Number but hey, ho, it's not the first time the book has been wrong and certainly won't be the last. While you're in there I would definitely have a good clean out and replace all the top & bottom seals on all 8 cores. They're about US$8 each. A new core is allegedly US$465 and there is no Reman option. Also have a good look at the seals and see if any of them appear to have been "stretched". That usually happens during installation and is easy to avoid by using the correct lubricant and loads of it - see below. With the fact that what's actually in there not being what's shown in the book I'm reluctant to give Part Numbers. These may or may not be correct. 8N-5130 Seal, 8N-7139 Seal (8 of each) 7E-0830 Core As. Important Note: Don't use Vaseline or any other petroleum-based product to install the new seals. It will soften them and eventually cause leaks. Liquid dishwash soap is the best thing for installing the seals and on the tubes of the modules to convince them to go into the seals. The cores should go into the seals relatively easily without having to use too much force.
Yea... what Nige said. Good luck, it is not as daunting as first thought. Get a second pair of hands to line everything up while the top tank goes back in.
yeah rad guy said I was lucky it was the new style, cools better. The job was definitely a lot less work than originally thought was having nightmares about that. Hopefully pick up fixed core tomorrow, ordered all new seals too. Thanks for help, made a world of difference. If I was in the yard, I would take them all in to get flushed but maybe in the winter.
yeah apparently it is expensive to cross the US border because the seals are $25 each and the core is $585 and our dollar is at about .92 cents US. Core was only $150 to fix hole, pressure test, high pressure clean it, straighten fins, and paint it. So fixing core cheap part compared to the $400 for seals. They said the core was pretty clean inside, so I will probably just do a rad flush when I get it home and put in new antifreeze.
Re move bottom hoses and clean out before you start it, when you pull the cores so much dirt falls into bottom hole, tough on water pump.
will do. probably pressure wash it all first, try get rid of most dirt first.