Mike,

There's a long running discussion in the engine forum about the flex-a-lite electric fan kit. Reference was made toward your fan and apparently no-one actually has your fan but made reference to it as using derale fans and therefore provided the sites below as a reference for install instructions. Is your kit installed as per these instructions using metal rods through the radiator? I am trying to decide between your kit and FAL's...the rods through the radiator concerns me.

Thanks in advance for your reply.


The fans mount using metal rods pushed through the rad between the cooling fins. Rubber insolators coushin the fans and keep the rods in place. Have a look at: http://www.derale.com/instructions/tornadofan.html
A pic of the rods is at the bottom of this page; http://www.derale.com/electricfanaccess.shtml

 

HI!... I'm not running MIKE's exact electric fan kit but I have been running two 16" DERALE electric fans on my truck for over 4 years with "NO" problems at all. IMO these are the BEST fans on the market for our trucks. The fans are held to the rad via thin copper rods that pass through the cooling fin portion of the rad. Very easy install.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-7163.jpg
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...4-793-6935.jpg

 

'Neal, did you have to upgrade your alt.? I am not sure what these trucks typically come with for an alt. but I imagine if your alt. was underpowered or to small you might run into electrical problems (with alt., and battery) after installing an electric fan set up. I would actually like to do this swap and get rid of my old stock fan and clutch set up. I have an 4.2L 97 any advice on this matter? Thanks

 

Neal,

Thanks...your pictures are clearer than the stretch diagram from derale and it provides a clean look under the hood, even without the shrud. I think Mike's products, he and his people are great, but I was not so sure about the rods for mounting the fans. Seeing you have tested and proven this electric fan setup for over four years is good enough for me. I know I will not push my truck near as hard as you have...but who knows what the future might hold?

Thanks again.

 

I run Mike's fan set up also. I have installed this same set up on 2 of my friends trucks also. No problems what so ever. I've used this same type of mounting set up over the years on trans coolers, oil coolers etc. They have never caused me a problem. There are a couple pictures of my fan set up in my gallery.

 

HI!... espicer : I have a a stock 130AMP alternator on my truck, plus a OPTIMA yellow top battery and ASP power pulleys. I have *NO* charging or electrical problems at all. 90% of the time I only run one fan to keep cool, but since last OCTOBER I've been barely running any fans at all.

 

I have Mike's fan kit and it does mount using the same method. I love it. These fans are so powerful and you could definitely tell a difference. I'm running the ASP pulleys as well. You will love them and Mike's service is second to none.

 

All this is making me nuts! I like the FAL shroud, but Mike's quality products are a real temptation. I know the copper rod-through the radiator is safe, I just don't like the idea. The FAL kit has a mount that doesn't connect directly to the radiator but via the supports.

What it comes down to is which one is going to last longer? I've heard that Mike's kit is tested in desert heat, but teh FAL kit has, too. I'm at a real cross-road here as to which one to buy. Any help or imput is appreciated.

 

mf150,

Actually getting away from the larger shroud was one of my deciding factors in choosing the Derale set-up. After all the shrouds need be no bigger than is necessary to help the fans pull the air across the surface they cover. I really enjoy having the extra open space under the hood.

 

Hi crain & mf150, etc.,

The best way to go over all the pro's & con's of our fan kit is to give us a call of course, but I'll go over a couple things you guys mentioned here just briefly.............

Actually, the funny thing is those that know us well know that we never set out to do our own electric fan kit, that happened only from necessity because we weren't entirely happy with any existing kit in terms of everything from safety issues, features, etc., to raw materials quality & cost, no existing kit had all of that covered in a way we felt it could & should be.

The issue of getting rid of the factory fan shroud is all positive, there isn't any downside as it's only purpose is for use with the factory single mechanical fan. Each of our 16" electric fans has it's *own* shroud, as Gearhead_1 kindly pointed out in his response. Our design is more efficient and is safer, too (I *hate* any kind of exposed fan blade).

Each of our 16" fans has fully enclosed fan blades, and has it's own fan shroud, which leaves the factory fan shroud in the way, serving no real purpose other than taking up space. I don't know of anyone that doesn't like all the additional room that frees up under the hood & how much easier our electric fan kit makes it to work on the rest of the engine, especially the front of the motor.

Not only have we tested this kit in desert conditions for long periods of time to insure our system has significantly increased cooling capacity over stock, but we also have some people really pounding on our kit that have tested it in ways we couldn't here. There are some of our customers doing very rough Offroad stuff like mud-bogging, where on occasion an engine compartment including our electric fans have been basically packed in mud, to dune racing, jumping vehicles off the ground and landing, well, about like you'd expect a 2.5 ton truck to land once gravity takes over, which is to say pretty darned hard. (We don't recommend doing that of course.)

With regard to using the copper mounting rods to mount directly thru the fins of the radiator, this has been done for many years by many companies, and is perfectly safe. Copper is used because it is softer than the tubes inside the radiator, so there is no rub-thru concern or galvanic reaction, etc. Our mounting system firmly attaches the fans to the radiator's body while cushioning the fins at every point of attachment, on both sides of the radiator. We use soft rubber insulating pads that are included with our kit, and shown clearly in the pictures, etc. exactly how our mounting system works to achieve firm attachment, cushion the fins & absorb vibration, etc.

Now the bottom line is, of course each of you have to do whatever makes you feel most comfortable, it's your vehicle and your hard-earned money, so I'm the first to say you should do just exactly whatever makes *you* happiest.

We made this kit, taking many months of going thru the raw components of every automotive electric fan & kit manufacturer from SPAL to Ford to Derale, Permacool, Hayden, Flexalite, to you name it etc., and our kit contains parts from over a dozen different manufacturers, as that is what it took to make it work the way we wanted, no one manufacturer had the best in every part.

We feel our Troyer Performance Electric Fan Kit represents the best value in an electric fan kit for the late-model F-150 platform, and we also have them available for the 1987-1996 F-series as well as the 1995 & up Explorers, etc.

The Electric Fans & Auxiliary Coolers section along with the Ignition section will be opened up at www.TroyerPerformance.com very soon as well, so people can see the details of this kit online.

Please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, go over the installation, etc.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

 

Neal and others:

How would I go about running manual on switches to overide thermostat control? Is it easy to do with this kit?

Thanks.

 

Mike's kit comes with a manual switch that can be used or left off. Wiring it in is no big deal.

 

I'm swayed! I'm going to order the Troyer kit a week from Friday. I was stuck on the FAL kit, but the only thing that was holding me back was the copper rods. I see that there is no reason to worry. One question I do have is:

I'm running ASP pulleys, a Troyer tranny cooler, and will be running the PPI fans. Will I have any charging issues? I was thinking about getting an Optima deep cycle, but I was wondering if the Motorcraft battery will handle the demands of the accessories in the meantime?

 

For those who have installed this kit or a similar kit, about how long does it take to install. I am thinking of this as my next upgrade. I am a low level mechanic type but have friends to help me.

Also have you noticed an increase in performance (how much) and gas mileage (how much)?

Thanks

 

dcovell,
I installed mine last June, I believe it took me about 8 hours.....but I was a little ****. here is a link to the thread.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=88718

I really saw extra power, the noise from under the hood decreased and i didn't see any fuel mileage gain.
Ed