I have a 1999 chevy Suburban that is having a coolant issue. I found a crack in the top of the radiator hose neck. Its the metal part the hose attaches too. My system doesnt leak because it does not really pressurize. My temperature gauge never climbs out of normal operating range even when climbing mountains even under load. I have never over heated and never “hurt” the engine. It has 228k. So if it dies it dies, i have another to swap in. My question is, is the huge water pump pumping enough water to keep my engine safe and i guess what should I look for “indicators” that the back of the engine block is not getting “cool” enough. I have had this issue for 2 years really, and it just stays full of water just up to a certain point. If i flush it and put in 2.5 gallons 3-4 cups of fluid seep out of the crack and that is all. When looking into the radiator i can see the top of the “coils” bearly covered. Not having any real issues but I am curious as to what others think I should do. I have a donor truck exact same as mine with a 100% radiator. Parts are not an issue.

Welcome to the forum. Moved into a new thread.
I would recommend that you swap in the good donor rad, so that the system will pressurize properly.

It doesn't even get hot climbing mountains? Sounds like the radiator is dropping a ton of heat. Nothing wrong with that. If it'* happy I'd be happy.

Yup, what they said ^^^^^^^

I've personally never measured temperature from the front of the engine to the back.

I have a 1999 Suburban K1500 5.7 also. With a good fan clutch and a free-flowing radiator they are difficult to get hot. I've had mine down to Badwater (278' below sea level) at 125 degrees (F) with a car full of family and a trailer full of stuff behind it and the air conditioning on full blast. The fan ran somewhat more than usual but otherwise it just happily did it'* job. Well, I don't know how happy it really was, but it didn't show any sadness. It even sat and idled happily for a half hour while we walked around. At that temperature I didn't want to take a chance that it wouldn't start if I shut it off.

Any water pump from a reputable manufacturer that is designed for this vehicle'* engine is adequate for this engine.

I wouldn't run around for any length of time with a cracked radiator. New ones are too cheap to risk cooking something by running low on coolant.