Electric fans

So, im debating myself here.

My truck, 95 Silverado 

Dd/occasional falt tow/challenge car tow

Have the stock shroud and clutch fan. Works fine.

Have a full dual electric fan setup with thermostatic control. Covers almost hmthe entire core without a shroud, and have supplies here to build a shroud if needed.

My reasoning behind looking at the electric fans is for gas mileage and stopped air conditioning/heat management in the summer here in nc. It gets stupid hot and humid, and these trucks struggle at idle here in the summer to stay cool in the cab. 

Im concerned about reliability/heat management for towing and truck stuff. I know mist every other vehicle i own has an electric fan from the factory,  with smaller radiators, more horsepower, adnd more cramped engine bays. 

Am i overthinking this? Any reason NOT to go with the electrics?

They'll probably work fine provided they're sufficiently high flow fans, but make sure you can get air out of the engine bay freely enough, especially at highway speed.  Electrics can't produce nearly as much pressure as a good mech fan. 

Had a high miles used Silv that didn't seem cool the cab as much I thought it should (freon was OK). Turned out to be a slightly faulty AC 'blend' door that was allowing a bit of heated air to blend with the AC air.

In reply to FMB42 :

Ice run into that as well, however this is a consistent issue here with the gmt400 platform. Across the four ive personally owned, and the many others ive been involved in  

One of the reasons newer cars have smaller radiators etc is because they run more efficient engines that are easier to cool. It's really interesting to read up on the changes Chevy made between the old small-block and the LS1 in this regard. There's also a much better understanding of aero than there was in 1995.

If your concern is air conditioning performance and not engine cooling, I'd be interested in adding a supplementary electric fan to the AC condenser. That's what BMW did on the E39 M5 - a big engine-driven primary fan and a secondary AC electric fan. Loads of bypass flaps in the shroud for the latter.

My plan for my GMT400s is to use a GMT800/GMT900 dual electric fan setup, since they use the same size radiator so the shroud goes right in. I'm hoping to get the factory relay set up with my ECM, but that part of the puzzle doesn't really apply to your '95. The GM fans came as either a 5 and 7 blade fan pair or 7 and 9 blade depending on the cooling need.

I'm not sure how doable it is with the TBI FEAD, but an LS AD244 145 amp alternator is a direct fit on the Vortec FEAD. Just did the swap 2 weeks ago on mine. The 105 amp alternator that most trucks got will be a weak point with dual fans. I had a problem with this when I had swapped a TBI engine into a different chassis with electric fans (dual fans from a Camry in that one).

I found  a dyno plot showing 17 horsepower at the wheels removing the stock clutch fan on a GMT800 Tahoe. I always take that stuff with a grain of salt, but that's a meaningful gain and I know even my Vortec fan and newish fan clutch moves far more air than it needs to in almost all conditions. For towing, a mechanical fan is supposed to be better but those GMT800/900 trucks obviously do just fine with electrics. 

The only reason I haven't done this on mine yet is to use the 0411 ECM to run the fan, I need to do some wiring modifications and segment swap a calibration. Waiting until after an upcoming road trip so I don't accidentally shoot myself in the foot with unexpected problems.

In reply to gearheadE30 :

The 800 fans didn't clear my lower radiator hose, oil cooler lines, or trans cooler lines. 

However, thy for the radiator itself quite well!

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

...well that is interesting. At least as far as I know our trucks should have the same 34X17.5ish radiator dimensions and the same hose routings. Maybe that won't be the easy button solution I thought it was going to be.

In reply to gearheadE30 :

The internet led ne to believe it would fall right in. 

However,  not the case in my truck, with the gmt800 fans i sourced. Sure i could make them fit with a little effort.