temp question

hey all new to the sight. i hope i am in the right spot. i have an 88 mighty max with the 2.0 motor. When i bought it a month ago i noticed how far the fan is away from the radiator, and the temp guage and sending unit were not working correctly. I have put an aftermarktet temp gauge in and put an electric fan on attached to the radiator. the timing belt and water pump were changed just before i bought the truck. i notice that the temp still tends to be on the higher side, but the truck doesnt have the characteristics of being hot other then from the temp guage. i took out the thermastat out and still climbs to 225 when ever the temp outside is hotter about 80 or above, and also climbs when going up hill. my question is it normal for these trucks to run on the higer side like this or do i need to be doing some more troubleshooting?
thanks

i just noticed there are 2 sending units one works the gauge. What does the other one do ? i replaced the one that works the gauge already

one tells the temp on the gauge the other is for the ecm.

does your truck have a/c? i found that my truck would stay in the middle and 3/4 way after installing the ac with fan shroud. before i installed the ac it would stay about under half way and i did not have a shroud on it at the time. im thinking of putting a better alternator and electric fan setup on it.

no it is pretty stripped down.has a weber carb on it alot of emission items are missing as well. i put the thermostat back in after testing it to make sure it was opening and now my gauge is reading 240 degrees, but yet i can still put my finger into the radiator and feel the fluid. it is hot but not boiling hot

on sunday it reached 92 degrees here in washington when i got in the truck after work the temp gauge was reading between 130 and 140 before i had even started the truck? not sure if that helps with figuring out my problem

try removing the thermostat and see what it does. the water pump could be bad. if you see the water circulating than the pump should be fine. also make sure that their is no air in the system. just leave the radiator cap off and let it cycle the thermostat once or twice. it might spill a little out the top of the radiator if its full.

What brand is the gauge? Could be broken or not calibrated. Temp in my truck climbs when there's an air bubble in the cooling system.

looks like the gauge isnt callibrated. it was an oriellys gauge, but was using the stock temp sensor because there options didnt fit it appears to be 60 to 70 degrees off.

You can't mix sensors and gauges - you need the sensor that came with the gauge to get it to work. Equus (formerly sun gauges) sells an adaptor kit for pipe thread to metric so you can install the gauges with pipe thread on foreign vehicles. When I get a chance I will look at the package I have and I will post the part number.

that would be great. i know how important the temp guages are in these rigs.