Front Cooler Delete

[Goinboardin]

I hear alot about people putting in big rear U-coolers and removing the front cooler to clear a bigger paddle/increase snow evacuation in the front of the tunnel. I have heard this may reduce bulkhead strength (which does make sense), but my question is, what do you do with the coolant hoses that normally flow through this front cooler when you remove it?

I'm not even sure what the coolant flow direction is in the whole system, and can't seem to find that info anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Goinboardin]

Hmmm. Well, its coming out, I'm blocking off the holes for the hoses in the bulkhead, and making a Y tube to connect all three hoses together. I'll also put in a much larger rear cooler. Then crossing my fingers.

Did some measuring today with my 7t 3.0" drivers in place (no skid or track) and that will give me pretty good clearance (looks like about 3/4" with no cooler) for a 2.5" except directly above the drivers. Right above the drivers looks like I'll be at about 3/8" clearance, but I'm not about to spend tons more $ on an 8 year old sled for just a little more clearance, nor do I really want to do a D&R.

Did everyone that modded these Edges sell them and stop looking in this forum? Or is it just a little early yet?

 

[Goinboardin]

RMKBoxer helped me out, this picture shows a nice option rather than using some sort of Y tube...

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143720

 

[2XM3]

the way the front cooler in a edge works is to act as a place where the water will bypass when the thermostat is in the closed position. when the thermostat opens water then flows through the main system. You will notice in stock form the little hose goes to the upper fitting of the front cooler, this is the bypass.
Now when eliminating the front cooler, if you plug the bypass line at the block,you can drill a small .080 or so hole in the thermostat to allow water to flow a bit when shut,this helps warmup and helps with air bubbles when filling. But better yet I usually run the bypass to a "t" fitting right before the plastic bottle where you fill the system, this allows the motor to warm up nicely while circulating some water and seems to allow the temp to run more consistant.
I don't like just running a loop as if its cold out motor heats up to temp and then thermostat opens, wham 30 degee water shot into 130 degree engine, but many run it this way with no issues at all.... IMHO

 

[rmkboxer]

the way the front cooler in a edge works is to act as a place where the water will bypass when the thermostat is in the closed position. when the thermostat opens water then flows through the main system. You will notice in stock form the little hose goes to the upper fitting of the front cooler, this is the bypass.
Now when eliminating the front cooler, if you plug the bypass line at the block,you can drill a small .080 or so hole in the thermostat to allow water to flow a bit when shut,this helps warmup and helps with air bubbles when filling. But better yet I usually run the bypass to a "t" fitting right before the plastic bottle where you fill the system, this allows the motor to warm up nicely while circulating some water and seems to allow the temp to run more consistant.
I don't like just running a loop as if its cold out motor heats up to temp and then thermostat opens, wham 30 degee water shot into 130 degree engine, but many run it this way with no issues at all.... IMHO

that all makes sense. I know the billet 900's did not run a t-stat so that system worked for it

 

[Ryanlilly]

As far as the strength goes, I had the same concern. I spoke with Curt at Fastrax about it, her told me that the cooler provides no structural support.

 

[rmkboxer]

As far as the strength goes, I had the same concern. I spoke with Curt at Fastrax about it, her told me that the cooler provides no structural support.

he's going to be pissed you called him a her.

I looked at my 04 looks like you might want to run the T I would think it would work better

 

[Ryanlilly]

he's going to be pissed you called him a her.

I looked at my 04 looks like you might want to run the T I would think it would work better

Friggen predictive text! Sorry Curt!

 

[Goinboardin]

Coolant Routing

It rained this morning, and being that I don't have a garage...didn't do anything with this today other than think/look. My RSI bars showed up, so I put those on during the break in weather before work.

My new plan is to route the hose off the top of the head to the clutch side of the rear cooler. Route the hose on the bottom of the head to a T fitting just in front of the overflow bottle.

Just to get this clear (with the setup I plan to use):
The water pump pushes coolant up the cylinders, out the top of the head when the thermostat is open, to the rear cooler from the clutch side, then it flows back through the brake cooler, through the coolant overflow bottle, and back into the water pump. And if the T-stat is closed, instead of going out the top of the head it will go through the bypass hose and reenter the circuit just in front of the overflow bottle.

The stock coolant flow (my sled is an 04' vert edge):
Water pump pushes coolant up cylinders, out the top of the head if the T-stat is open, into the front cooler, across the front cooler to the hose that runs to the rear cooler from the clutch side, back up from the rear cooler along the mag side, through the brake cooler, through the overflow bottle, and back into the water pump. With T-stat closed, its basically the same thing but much more slowly? so the coolant warms more quickly? I probably have this wrong, I just know its tough to come by this info if you're looking for it online and would like to help out the next guy looking into this. UPDATE: this is definitely wrong. But the above description without the front cooler is correct.

Thanks for the tips/help/advice guys!

UPDATE: I removed the front cooler, made little block off plates to cover the hole the old hoses ran through, and replumbed the coolant lines. Did this by turning the fitting on the top of the head 180* so it points toward the clutch side of the sled, then put one of the old hoses on that fitting pointing toward the front of the sled and down. Slipped a small peice of 3/4" OD aluminum tube inside the end of a 32" long peice of 3/4" ID radiator hose (from Napa) and put that hose in the end of the 1" ID rad hose now on the head fitting. Hose clamp to seal it, other end of 3/4" ID hose on footboard coolant tube. That makes it so the coolant coming out the top of the head (thermostat in open position) goes to the rear cooler. For the thermostat bypass, I used another one of the old hoses (its a 1" ID hose with about a 60* bend in it--should be a 90* though) on the fitting on the bottom of the head, routed it over the top of the Reed housing of the block into a plastic T fitting I picked up at Ace Hardware. The coolant bottle was moved toward the brake caliper so the T fitting sits in front of it. I'll get some pics on sooner or later. There is about a 3" peice of 1" ID radiator hose between the caliper and the coolant bottle, then another 3" peice between the coolant bottle and T fitting, which plugs right into the original hose feeding the water pump. Some zip ties to hold things in place, and soon a larger rear cooler to finish this aspect of my sled.