On the final leg of my journey to our campsite while towing my travel trailer the engine temperature climbed up to about 220. The mark between 190 and 240 on the dash gauge. We were on a paved road, so no low range 4x4 was utilized. The grade was very steep and I was in second gear at about 2,000 RPM's. When I got to the top the temp reading for the engine was about 220. Smelled hot too. No gauges to monitor EGT's, etc so I cannot comment on that. So I put the truck in neutral and ran up the RPM's to about 1,500 until it came back to normal operating temp. Is this typical or should I be looking for an issue?

Might be best to take out the radiator and take it to a shop for cleaning and flushing and pressure testing. What's a new radiator cost?

Go ahead and take it out, it will be much easier to clean. I had to take mine out on the side of the highway about 2 months ago. Took all of 45 minutes to remove and I had never taken one out before.

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Go ahead and take it out, it will be much easier to clean. I had to take mine out on the side of the highway about 2 months ago. Took all of 45 minutes to remove and I had never taken one out before.

As quick as it takes to remove the radiator, I'd sure remove it and really get it clean. You'll also have good access to clean the condenser and exchanger too... I just did my '00 this way, and it went to running the fan clutch all the time (before cleaning) to only hearing the fan clutch come on occasionally. I had plenty of gunk on both sides of the radiator, (grass seeds and bugs on front, blowby/dust/gunk on the backside) I soaked it in a heavy solution of simple green overnight (shallow pan so no soap would get into the core) then power washed the snot out of it. I really felt the difference in amount of air flowing even at idle! Moparman has had decent luck by shooting water through the fins and letting the fan do the rest. He doesn't have the oil gunk problem though... check out his modification on breather tube http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/26-engine-systems/46-engine-what-happens-if-you-keep-the-stock-crankcase-vent

As quick as it takes to remove the radiator, I'd sure remove it and really get it clean. You'll also have good access to clean the condenser and exchanger too... I just did my '00 this way, and it went to running the fan clutch all the time (before cleaning) to only hearing the fan clutch come on occasionally. I had plenty of gunk on both sides of the radiator, (grass seeds and bugs on front, blowby/dust/gunk on the backside) I soaked it in a heavy solution of simple green overnight (shallow pan so no soap would get into the core) then power washed the snot out of it. I really felt the difference in amount of air flowing even at idle! Moparman has had decent luck by shooting water through the fins and letting the fan do the rest. He doesn't have the oil gunk problem though... check out his modification on breather tube http://articles.mopar1973man.com/2nd-generation-24v-dodge-cummins/26-engine-systems/46-engine-what-happens-if-you-keep-the-stock-crankcase-vent

Thanks for the info. Perfect.

after reading this sounds like i need to pull mine out and do the same....will have to be a weekend project at my father inlaws for this tho.