tractor with lots of radiator sealer?

mmidlam

Member
I bought a tractor that had a lot of radiator sealer poured in. The cores that I can see look clean. The outside is clogged. It has brown sticky clay like deposits on the outside that I scraped off with a putty knife. I can't see thought the radiator. Any ideas on cleaning the stuff out? should I use an acid or caustic based cleaner? I have done a fair amount of radiator soldering and think I can repair it right.
 
You sure it is sealer not just years of rust and sludge?? Seen many that where full of rust and years of dirt etc. Me I would drain the system and fill with vinegar and run it a few times then drain and back flush by rigging up a garden hose hook up at the block drain
 
Actually, the inside of the radiator looks clean when looking in the filler neck. Its the outside that is coated. I did a radiator flush and not much came out of the lower hose.
 
If the inside is clean and the out side dirty then that is from years of dust etc that the owner should have washed out once in a while
 
For the outside I would use a spray nozzle on the hose, work it from both sides until it will spray all the way through. Pressure washer might be too much, could blow holes in the core if it's getting thin.
 
There was an article in Antique Power magazine about making a temporary radiator repair with Bondo. You know how those repairs become permanent after a while.
 
It may have been used for a nasty job that plugged it up. If it ever had a hydraulic hose break and then worked in a dusty field she will be packed up tight. A 4440 can get nasty in a hurry, let me tell you.

The radiator on my grain truck was that way when I bought it. I know that ours looked that way growing up because it was used to fill trench silo. That is, of course, before we wired a really purdy piece of window screen over the grill to catch it all. We were a high class operation. I'm guessing my truck spent time filling silo.
 
If you are willing to remove the radiator from the tractor, then soak it in a tank for a while. My brother worked a friends tractor too hard, with a radiator that could not breathe. It was rebuild time after that. Pay me now or pay me later.

SDE
 
(quoted from post at 22:41:52 07/04/15) There was an article in Antique Power magazine about making a temporary radiator repair with Bondo. You know how those repairs become permanent after a while.

I did something similar about 10 years ago. I had just replaced an engine that had a connection rod ventilate the front of the engine block. I took it out for a test drive and after a couple of miles there was a bang and I had antifreeze running out of the radiator. There had been a small piece of the old engine block in the bottom of the fan shroud that I had not noticed. When I turned on the AC the electric cooling fan kicked on and that piece was picked up, bounce of the fan blade, and went back into the radiator. It left a pretty good sized hole in a couple of the tubes. I had some epoxy for use on aluminum that I used to make a patch until I could replace the radiator. I stikk haven't done that but the car has over 100,000 miles on it and the patch is still holding.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top