Toto

Hi Guys

Just asking a question for fun.(bored on a Saturday afternoon)
Why do you need a winter front to help warm up the truck quicker?
Doesn't the thermostat stay closed when cold or does a significant amount of coolant get by anyway?

CRXsi

You are kind of correct in your thinking of how the thermostat works and in an ideal situation the thermostat would control this...the problem isn't the rad getting cool by air but rather the extra airflow over the engine itself causing everything under the hood to not heat up enough to open the thermostat in a normal amount of time. I put the Cloud Rider winter front stainless steel inserts on the front of mine and in conditions below 0°C/32 °F, it takes half the time to get up to operating temp (no exageration either) as it did without the winter front. There may be even better results with the Mopar unit

Toto

Hi Gord

I have a piece of peg board I used last winter.
Seemed to help somewhat.
Put it between the rad and the intercooler.
Cut about a 10" hole for the fan clutch and the peg holes let some air thru the rest of it.
I think I will put in back in.
I just hung it from the batery cables that run across the front of the engine compartment, with cable ties.

Ted
(Toto is the miniature schnauzer that runs our household)

CRXsi

Sounds like that should work just fine also.

SuperGewl

Spend the money and get the DC winter front. Check my web pages for how it looks. I works great and is designed by DC so if it screws somthing up then I've got them on the hook

coobie

Ditto on what supergewl said on the DC winterfront.I have had mine for two years and really like it.Simple install and stays in place underneath the hood.coobie

topless

With the Dodge winter front, it has 4 flaps that let you change the air flow available, by just opening the hood. They velcro open or closed. I've run my truck with all 4 open on days (unusual for this time of year) above 60 degrees and even on the highway at 75, the motor runs between 190-194. I drive 15 miles, 1/2 highway to work (closest to work). Without the cover on a 20 degree morning, my truck wouldn't get to operating temp until I was on the highway, even with the block heater. With the cover, it's opened the thermostat in about 2 miles. Fuel mileage improved by 1 mpg with the cover on due to the better fuel burning because of the warmer enging.

Toto

I am too cheap SuperGewl !
Actually you may have a point...and the front from DC obviously blocks out a lot more cold air.

CRXsi

If money is partially an issue...I believe someone here said that the 'Lund' grille inserts look very similar to the cloud rider ones and are a fraction of the price.

Wskiftun

Would like picture of Mopar winter front, please Wskiftun

Rob's Red Ram

Here You go,[IMG][/IMG]

greasemonki

I made my own out of lexan. I'll snap some pictures when I put it back on in a few weeks, but basically I made two rectangles that fill the grille, I left a 4 inch space between the two for air flow to the fan clutch, then made some holes on the left one for the trans cooler (its an auto). I mount it behind the grille, and have 8 s.s. bolts that go through the grille and sandwich the lexan to the back. I like the low profile look, and except for the bolt heads, you can't really tell its there, but it makes a world of difference when the temps are below freezing.