NAA Radiator Question - long

[ClarkR]

Did some bush hogging with the NAA this weekend. Had the mower held up pretty high knocking down weeds for shooting lanes. The area is EXTREMELY rough due to hog rooting. Was in 1st gear the whole time.
Added a little water to the radiator before I started, radiator looked fine. After an hour or two I noticed a puff or two of steam from the radiator/fan area and thought I smelled antifreeze. I stopped and turned off the PTO and noticed the radiator had quite of debris on it. Temperature gauge was reading 175 or 180. Headed back to barn. When I shut it off and opened the hood the neck of the radiator was pointed slightly toward the steering wheel due to a dent on the top of the radiator on steering wheel side. It had slightly opened up the top seam in that area and lost most of the water. Radiator is not loose. Let it cool off overnight and went and used another tractor. Next morning I straightened the neck out and filled with water. I fired right up. I let it run for 10 - 15 minutes, got up to about 135, no circulation, but that could have been because the thermostat hadn't opened.

Could I have hit a big enough hog rooted hole that the cross member shifted enough to dent the radiator against the gas tank (or elsewhere)? Could pressure have sucked the top of the radiator in? Water pump failure cause such a thing?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jimtrs]

(quoted from post at 11:20:15 10/12/20) .....Could I have hit a big enough hog rooted hole that the cross member shifted enough to dent the radiator against the gas tank (or elsewhere)?

Certainly possible. Most Jubes I see in my shop have the tin flopping around enough to do something like that.

Could pressure have sucked the top of the radiator in?

No. Pressure will expand. Seen many radiators where the top tank looks like a balloon.

My bet is on the radiator hitting something. Usually when tweaking moves a radiator that much the fan might be hitting the radiator also. How's that look?
Now that the top seam is split, you'll need a repair or another radiator. I would try to nail down any mounting, moving around problems first.

 

[JMOR]

You do know that 8N pressure cap is only 4 PSI & not 13-14 or more as in modern vehicles?

 

[ClarkR]

Yes sir. I'm running a 4 pound cap.