Ranger overheats while wheeling

[RangerRoad]

Heres the problem whenever I'm out wheeling in the snow, mud, sand, whatever. Whenever I'm pushing my motor at high rpm's my truck over heats. But as soon as I get back on the pavement and get some wind flowing through the radiator the temp. goes back down.
So with that said here's what I was thinking I have a spare radiator out of a 86 mustang 3.8 which is slightly larger then the rangers stock one. If I put that in along with a electric fan to get the air flowing through better will that help cool the temp down or do you think it could be something else.

 

[Sunk]

Before you get crazy, I'd check to see if the radiator is clogged. If you have A/C, the condenser in front of it can make it difficult to see, but you should be able to see if its full of mud. Mine was a bit, and I just ran a hose over it and cleaned it out. If its clean, you can swap a radiator in from an explorer or ranger with a 4.0. It'll bolt right in.

 

[holyford86]

the 4.0 AUTOMATIC transmission A/C radiator is considerably thicker (90-92 Ranger and 90-94 explorer are pretty much a direct bolt in if you use the 4.0 lower hose and the 2.9 upper). The manual trans versions are the same thickness. I have a feeling that your issue isn't related to the radiator though, check your fan clutch, if fluid is leaking out of it or it spins freely with no resistance whatsoever it's probably bad. installing a full fan shroud (if you don't already have one) out of a ranger with a/c will also help substantially.

 

[RangerRoad]

Update

So I pulled the old radiator to find that it was caked with mud, so I figured while it was out I might as well put the new radiator in. So with a couple custom brackets and some new hoses theres no more overheating issues.