Radiator change

I’m changing my radiator and I’m looking for a bit of help. first of all it appears there is 2 radiators. Is this normal?

second off
There are 4 lines going to the radiator. 2 hard lines going to the “front radiator and 2 hoses going to the back radiator. Can someone help me label each? I already removed the upper and lower radiator hoses.
Hard lines


hoses

 

The front most is your AC condenser.

Leave it alone

 

So the hoses are to the trans.

 

The AC Condenser and drier are mounted in front of the radiator. Do not mess with the hard lines, unless you want to recharge your AC system.

The radiator has two ATF cooling lines that route ATF through the radiator on the left side of the vehicle. Assuming that you have an automatic, if you are replacing the radiator, then you will need to remove these two lines. After the installation of the (new?) radiator you will need to check the ATF level, and probably add ATF to the transmission.

 

Yes. Upper and lower radiator hoses and two transmission lines. My advice is to buy hose clamps and take them off carefully.

 

Well shoot, I unscrewed this cap and it sounded like a little release in pressure. Is that problem? It just sounded like a puff of air. This was before I posted because I wanted to see if there was some sort of fluid in it.

 

If you just unscrewed the cap and not pressed the valve it should be ok.

but that’s freon/coolant and you shouldn’t be messing with those lines on a radiator swap.

 

That's a charging port for the AC. It has a shrader valve in the fitting. The cap is to keep it clean

 

The plastic cap may have a little pressure under it but the schrader valve below it is holding the actual system pressure inside. Don't vent the a/c refrigerant to the atmosphere, you need a service machine to do it properly

You should be able to separate the ac condenser from the frame and lean it forward to get some room to remove the radiator

 

Watch a YouTube video before going any farther

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbFvQ6DDQto

 

Didn’t press the valve

 

I have the fan shroud and fan off to give me some room behind it.

 

You see the "H" on that cap? That means HIGH pressure side of the compressor. There is another one in the engine compartment that should have an "L" on it.

 

I have everything off, anyone have any idea on idler pulleys? The bottom on feels bonded up and the top two have some good resistance too. Shouldn’t they spin freely? And what about the tensioner, should I replace that too?

 

Couldn’t hurt. New belt too. Tensioner is a PITA to get to. I ended up just replacing the tensioner pulley for now.

 

Belt is 5k miles old, I thought I checked the idlers then and they were all good… I did get it pretty dirty since then though.

 

Anytime I’m doing work with the belt and adding new resistance (like pulleys, alternator, etc), I’ll change the belt. It’s a $30 part. Probably unnecessary, but I have almost 275k on my truck and don’t take chances.

 

Any good ones on rock auto? I’m getting gates idlers.

 

I used gates pulleys and bando belt from rockauto about 1.5 years ago, no issues.

 

if that deep in there, replace what you can now

idler pulleys should spin free with no bind or rough spots