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I've been seeing a few posts on cooling. My 254 had a similar issue, I upgraded my alternator to the 500 watt Jinma, then added a Hayden Electronics 12″ 800cfm (model 3680 with 3654 controller) on the air cleaner mounting bracket in front of the radiator. It is just the right width to mount by drilling & tapping the mounting bracket. My issue was air flow from the way the factory fan & shroud don't match to move air. I am going to complete the installation with a full sheet metal intake shroud, but I ran it all day driving a 4' PTO tiller in virgin pasture & it never even acted like it was going to heat up. Previously It wouldn't turn a 5' brushog faster than 1st gear at very low RPM. Now it runs in 3rd with no complaints at all. I discarded the factory brush screen as I will replace with hardware cloth on the electric fan shortly.
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I decided to take the bull by the horn's and not wait for a reply to my post on electric fan install.
I don't know about jinma 254 but there isn't a lot of room between the battery and the radiator. Hayden, the fan people noted that the fan installation have minimum of 2 inches between the fan intake and surrounding engine parts. I guess if you had a very small battery that might work. I have a cat battery, although is is long it is the same width of the original battery I couldn't find any way to install the hayden 3680 12 inch fan on the battery/filter mounting bracket.
Here is what i ended up doing: 1. Removed the battery and air filter to allow working room.
2. Remove that worthless filter
3. Remove the second brace down from the top
4. Twist the next lower brace with the top of the brace now turned out
This now allows the fan to fit snugly up against the radiator. TIP “comb out the radiator fins if they need it”, mine did. In checking measurements from the battery to the fan it was like zero clearance however, there is enough room to shift the battery forward. This created a whole new set of problems.
A. The battery forward hold down ties were now to short.
B. The battery in being shifted forward no longer had the back of the brace to it from
sliding around.
C. The original battery position is about 3/16 lower then the forward area.
D. The bolts holding the cowling on pressed tightly against the battery when shifted
forward.
E. Last but not least the positive cable was now to short.
5. Made new forward hold downs. Couldn't find the right length bought longer ones and cut bent and drilled new cotter hole.
6. Cut piece of galvanized metal to cover the original battery compartment to bring the whole level. Drilled holes to allow water seepage. covered entire area old and new with rubber belting material.
7. Removed bolts holding cowling on at the from bottom and cut off the excess. Placed rubber across the whole length covering the remaining bolt exposure.
8. Drilled holes in bottom of the new battery compartment and installed small all thread to a hold down that I built to match the forward horizontal hold down.
9. Installed new positive cable.
10. Slide fan into place tipping it slightly, it slide right in. Mounted it with the thru radiator mounts provided. TIP make sure it is in the pusher position supposedly it comes from the factory that way, mine wasn't. Had to turn the blades around.
11. Install the electrical as to your preference.
I installed the 3654 controller very simple just follow instructions. Although it didn't require it I add a switch to the dash and 25 amp from my new fuse block (in recently installed a delco 10si 105 amp single wire and a new fuse panel to handle any new accessories. Duh!! I forgot to take pictures I will take it apart later and try to get some pics .
the good news is it works great.. engine runs up to operating temp around 170 and barely moves off the mark even brush hogging in the really hot weather we been having.. Hope it helps..
Bob
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Hey,
Haven't been on for a bit, Yes, I will post pictures soon, I think the difference on the battery mounting is on my Farm Pro, the battery mounts inside the front bumper, not in front of the radiator, so it doesn't interfere with the fan mounting. Actually, one of the wires on the controller is a switch circuit to the controller & I powered it to the keyswitch, so now it can't come on when the key switch is turned off.
Because of the battery location it was really easy to draw power for the controller/fan circuit directly from the battery. I had to take it back to the farm as my wife was tired of it being in the driveway, I couldn't seem to stop tinkering & deer food plots needed tilled & planted.
Next move is to put a reversable plug on the fan so I can plug directly to the battery to reverse the fan direction by reversing the polarity on the DC fan motor, you don't really have to turn the blades around to blow out or rather suck out the radiator while using the air compressor to blow out from the mechanical fan side. Still gotta pay attention to those fins.
Mark Lyons
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Hey Bob, I've been studying your mounting epic adventure. Made mine sound really easy, I guess it was. Strange because your North Star & My Farm Pro in theory are the same tractor, (Jinma 254) but your battery mounts in a different location. My guess is yours is newer? Mine is a 2004 model. Odd they decided to start mounting the battery right in front of the radiator. I guess that is to provide easier access to the battery maybe? On Mine, the hood latch is mounted on a bar that is removable to access the battery inside the bumper. I got some quarter inch rod stock & threaded it & bent it along with some 1″ angle to make a battery tiedown. Evidently the previous owner didn't think a battery tiedown or hood latch were important. Affordable tractor sent me a new hood latch for a few US dollars along with the new alternator. Both are working great now, but I think I'm going to run new 12ga wire through the whole charging circuit. The factory ammeter didn't last long with the heavier alternator so I put in a new VDO 60amp ammeter. This circuit is only rated @ 25 amp & the new alternator , now while the fan should never exceed 10 amp, the new alternator is capapable of producing more than the 16ga factory circuit can carry (500 watts/14.5 volts =34.48 amps. I guess they thought it was ok because the factory alternator only produced 14.65 amps. Come to think of it, maybe I should mount a fire extinguisher on the canopy in the mean time.
ML
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Yes life would have been a lot easier had the battery not been there. I envy that point. I put on a new latch on mine also the other one was so flimsy it wasn't funny. I did the same thing on my installation using an on off on rocker. When blowing out I wire it direct to the switch and cut out the thermostat. I thought about it for a longtime and decided Id rather play it safe then cross polarity in the thermostat. In addition I put a nice big red and green led with a legend above showing thermostat and bypass. the bypass light is a blinking red light. Also all operation cuts off when key is turned off except for the bypass position. Any one else wanting to try this it isn't rocket science. You just have to think it out and write it all down including wire sizes etc. Sounds like you got it in hand Mark… good luck to all
Bob
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Tinbender is correct.
Don't try to second guess the engineers that designed these. Back in '73 when I was with PACCAR R&D we experimented with electric fans on Peterbilts & Kenworths to save 40 HP. Chances are, if you installed an electric fan on your tractor, it will outlive you.
Account deleted.
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So this summer my cooling problem was back……..Ultimately I pulled the radiator to discover more than half of the heat exchanger fins were actually separated from the core tubes. I have a competent radiator shop just a few blocks from the office who told me they had never seen core separation to that degree, more than half of the fins were just loose & hanging there. I had a new US made core made & attached to my existing tanks. I ran full PTO RPM in 4th all day Friday in mid-upper 90 degree heat. Thermostat was actually closing to keep temp up to 80c. Electric fan came on only for about 3 seconds after a hot restart. I feel a little foolish, my instinct was saying radiator but I was thinking either sand in the block or corrosion. I could see circulation, but only what I could see through the radiator cap. Anyway, Automart said I likely only had half or less heat exchange. The cause, poor metal prep, lack of solder from the factory, or too quick cool down in manufacture. I know the previous owner was having cooling issues due to some of the things done.. It is fixed now.
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