[MidTnSahara]

Well they are made in china but champion is currently moving production to their own facility in California. They have an awesome staff call them with any questions ask for Dave or Trevor 951-245-9464

After talking with them I have decided I am very happy with my purchase. And my $160 one is a no frills 2 row. They have much more expensive ones with different design. It is tig welded and has no epoxy though. And you can repair them and still use the warranty. Not if you puncture it and repair it of course but if its a defect and you fix it to get home then no problem. He says he doesn't get many jeep returns at all. And you can modify the brackets tanks and anything but the core and they will still honor the warranty. And they will overnight you a new one if you pay for the extra shipping. That's pretty good in my book. Check them out they arnt paying me so I am done defending my choice.

Also they can custom build anything you want so if you want a certain tube size with a certain number of fins no problem

[fish4life]

Originally Posted by MidTnSahara

That's like saying my winch is a warn so it will always work. And that's just not true.

Things break no matter the brand. I cant justify spending more money on something the manufacturer will not stand behind. Like a bs 1yr warranty. If mopar really thought it would last don't you think it would have a longer warranty?

Champion is well known for great customer care. They seem to honestly care about their customers based on the reviews I have read everywhere.

Mopar is huge and don't give two ****s about the little man as long as he can't sue. Get real.

i already explained this to you, but you don't listen. Lifetime warranty, in this day and age, does not mean a product is good ... because MILLIONS of products (both good and bad) now carry lifetime warranty.

All that lifetime warranty means nowdays is that the companies have calculated how many of their products they expect to fail and have returned to them, and have priced them low enough to sell a high enough number to compensate for that. It's quite simple. It is not an indication of quality like it once was.

Mopar doesn't offer a lifetime warranty not because their products are crap, but because none of the other vehicle manufacturers offer lifetime warranties either. If they did, nobody would ever buy a new car ... and since the radiator in question here is the same that came in your Jeep when it was new they can't put a lifetime warranty on it either!

[Necko2529]

Dude, its your Jeep and your choice of parts you want to throw at it, but don't bash OEM dad's or compare champs to OEM which are known to last for years and thousands of miles.

[DevilDogDoc]

Originally Posted by MidTnSahara

Well they are made in china but champion is currently moving production to their own facility in California. They have an awesome staff call them with any questions ask for Dave or Trevor 951-245-9464

After talking with them I have decided I am very happy with my purchase. And my $160 one is a no frills 2 row. They have much more expensive ones with different design. It is tig welded and has no epoxy though. And you can repair them and still use the warranty. Not if you puncture it and repair it of course but if its a defect and you fix it to get home then no problem. He says he doesn't get many jeep returns at all. And you can modify the brackets tanks and anything but the core and they will still honor the warranty. And they will overnight you a new one if you pay for the extra shipping. That's pretty good in my book. Check them out they arnt paying me so I am done defending my choice.

Also they can custom build anything you want so if you want a certain tube size with a certain number of fins no problem

And the truth was revealed to the masses!!!!!
You want to run junk in your rig, so be it. I like to count on my mission critical gear to be as reliable as possible, so I will run what has worked for me and many others, I will faithfully maintain my equipment so that it will not fail from neglect and I will travel far and wide with no concerns as I have for the last 40000 miles or so. I got better things to do then spend what little time off I do have ****ing around and replacing POS Autozone parts....

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by MidTnSahara

Well they are made in china but champion is currently moving production to their own facility in California. They have an awesome staff call them with any questions ask for Dave or Trevor 951-245-9464

After talking with them I have decided I am very happy with my purchase. And my $160 one is a no frills 2 row. They have much more expensive ones with different design. It is tig welded and has no epoxy though. And you can repair them and still use the warranty. Not if you puncture it and repair it of course but if its a defect and you fix it to get home then no problem. He says he doesn't get many jeep returns at all. And you can modify the brackets tanks and anything but the core and they will still honor the warranty. And they will overnight you a new one if you pay for the extra shipping. That's pretty good in my book. Check them out they arnt paying me so I am done defending my choice.

Also they can custom build anything you want so if you want a certain tube size with a certain number of fins no problem

I only have one reason why I won't give Champion another shot. Back when they first popped up on the Jeep boards and everyone was proclaiming how great full aluminum radiators are, I gave them a call and asked them why they did a 2 and 3 row instead of a wider more efficient 1 row.

Their reply was that's what customers want. I then asked if they had tested the efficiency of the 1, 2, and 3 row version to be able to make a recommendation as to which was best for the Jeep TJ? Again, no, customers think the more rows the better, so that's what we sell them.

I asked if that tidbit about more rows being better was true and they admitted that it was not always so and some day they would get around to testing the 2 and 3 row to see how good they are.

I was done with them at that point and based on a shop in this area that I trust who has tried to use their product in the TJ without success, I doubt I'll give them another chance.

The bad part about that is I could have driven 5 miles and picked one up from them cheaper than driving to OC and getting one from the dealer. I drove 80 instead of 10 to get another OEM, but in this part of the world, I need it to work first time every time.

[lope]

Man, this thread really exploded today.

Anyway, I got the new radiator and installed it this afternoon and the verdict is....... (drum roll please) it's the real deal.







By the way, if anyone needs the side mounting brackets off of it I'll give 'em to ya'. My jeep is RHD, so I had to transfer the brackets off my old radiator and have no use for the ones that came with this radiator.

[MidTnSahara]

Originally Posted by DevilDogDoc

And the truth was revealed to the masses!!!!!
You want to run junk in your rig, so be it. I like to count on my mission critical gear to be as reliable as possible, so I will run what has worked for me and many others, I will faithfully maintain my equipment so that it will not fail from neglect and I will travel far and wide with no concerns as I have for the last 40000 miles or so. I got better things to do then spend what little time off I do have ****ing around and replacing POS Autozone parts....

Your a disrespectful dick. I am giving honest information and all you do is talk ****. I am done with this thread as its obvious you can't have a discussion without inciteful remarks. I will use what I want and if it works for my jeeps then that's all that matters to me. You are calling something you have no personal experience with junk. Man every company starts somewhere and they are a growing company that will soon be producing only us made radiators.

But show me again how to fix that oem radiator? Oh wait that's not happening

[DevilDogDoc]

Originally Posted by MidTnSahara

Your a disrespectful dick. I am giving honest information and all you do is talk ****. I am done with this thread as its obvious you can't have a discussion without inciteful remarks. I will use what I want and if it works for my jeeps then that's all that matters to me. You are calling something you have no personal experience with junk. Man every company starts somewhere and they are a growing company that will soon be producing only us made radiators.

But show me again how to fix that oem radiator? Oh wait that's not happening

Your the one calling people names there skippy.....I am sorry, I'm sure the Chinese 8 year old welding up Champions rads is far more skilled than the run of the mill ones being dumped into the mainstream. Like I said run what you want, it doesn't affect me in the least. When they actually start making them here and produce a 1 row that cools as well as OEM,at close to an OEM price I may give them a glance. And for the record, my OEM don't leak, so there is nothing to fix. And for folks that care, the above mentioned rad that Lope has in that pic is $202 delivered......

[freeskier93]

Originally Posted by lope

Man, this thread really exploded today.

Anyway, I got the new radiator and installed it this afternoon and the verdict is....... (drum roll please) it's the real deal.

By the way, if anyone needs the side mounting brackets off of it I'll give 'em to ya'. My jeep is RHD, so I had to transfer the brackets off my old radiator and have no use for the ones that came with this radiator.

Good deal. This puts my mind to rest. At least I know now Mopar is sourcing their water pump castings. And they are cheap castings at that.

[TJRoberto]

Originally Posted by lope

Man, this thread really exploded today.

Anyway, I got the new radiator and installed it this afternoon and the verdict is....... (drum roll please) it's the real deal.

Attachment 371689

Attachment 371690

Attachment 371691

I am looking at the page, and are all of them for auto tranny? They don't seem to ask if you need it for a auto tranny or not

[lope]

Originally Posted by TJRoberto

I am looking at the page, and are all of them for auto tranny? They don't seem to ask if you need it for a auto tranny or not

No, it shows manual and auto. The manual is about $25 less.

[Liquid741]

i love how my radiator developed a leak this week, and going to change it out this weekend....i come to my beloved forums and whadayknow! a thread regarding radiators!

[fish4life]

Originally Posted by lope

Man, this thread really exploded today.

Anyway, I got the new radiator and installed it this afternoon and the verdict is....... (drum roll please) it's the real deal.

<img src="http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=371689"/>

<img src="http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=371690"/>

<img src="http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=371691"/>

By the way, if anyone needs the side mounting brackets off of it I'll give 'em to ya'. My jeep is RHD, so I had to transfer the brackets off my old radiator and have no use for the ones that came with this radiator.

Awesome dude!!! Thanks so much for posting back with pictures ... And verdict haha

What was the final cost?? Someone mentioned $202 shipped, but that seems low considering I was looking on their site for the manual (cheaper) and it was $197.

Thanks again!!

[mrblaine]

Originally Posted by MidTnSahara

Well they are made in china but champion is currently moving production to their own facility in California. They have an awesome staff call them with any questions ask for Dave or Trevor 951-245-9464

It will be interesting to see what happens to the price when they are no longer made overseas.

[lope]

Originally Posted by fish4life

Awesome dude!!! Thanks so much for posting back with pictures ... And verdict haha

What was the final cost?? Someone mentioned $202 shipped, but that seems low considering I was looking on their site for the manual (cheaper) and it was $197.

Thanks again!!

Final cost with 2-day shipping was just under $230.