Keeping mud out of your radiator

[DMcCready]

A spin off thread from the discussion about cleaning mud out of your radiator... What are people doing to help keep it out of there in the first place?

Moving the radiator to the back is out of the question at the moment but will happen in the new chassis...

Im thinking of looking for something (mabey some form of fabric) that I could clip onto the front of the radiator when I know that there is a nasty section coming up.

Anyone tried? success? fail?

[CLUMZ1]

A few of the Aussy videos I've seen have a fabric type guard mounted over the front of the bullbar (with cutouts for lights), to keep seeds & grass from entering the radiator. Not sure how that would work on your buggy, but certainly could work as a catch for the radiator that could be hosed off easier (easier than the current water pressure at Rallywoods allows!)

[DMcCready]

Nice find! Yea that sort of what I was thinking about. Something that let a bit of air through until it plugged up but could be removed and washed...

[chopdpatrol]

staying urban should do the trick

[DMcCready]

staying urban should do the trick

I may have to give that a try sometime

[skid]

trials guys for years have had some form of cover they keep in the truck to bring out for water hazards.
Most have rear radiators now but I still watched one competitor get out his vinyl cover and clip it to the front of his vehicle yesterday at the Deadwood Safari before he dropped into a water hole.

It works good as you are only in the water/mud hole for a brief moment hopefully and the flow goes past radiator and motor etc

[oldblue]

I use some fly screen fabric same as whitebait netting, fitted between the grill & radiator, remove dust off and replace.

[Madaz]

Some of the guys in our club have been using a wind break mesh, the stuff where the squares are 3 or 5 mm, to be honest it didnt look like it would work at all, but when they actually tried it, it works pretty damn good, the puggy clay mud we get here , blocks up the holes pretty quick, and then stops every thing else going through. Give it a quick shake afterwards and its all clean again

[Jerry]

what about a sheet of corflute/realestate sign that goes in the gap between the radiator and the front, pull it out when you are out, have also seen a roll up cover on another truck

[skid]

buy an 80 series landcruiser of early 90s vintage

make sure its the top of the line VX Limited

they have a cool pull down blind in front of the radiator