Fan Clutch Removal

[Jeff Leavitt]

Hi,

Before I got my X'er someone had tried to remove the fan clutch by the hammer and cold chisel method. And, trying to remove the left handed thread by hammering it to the RIGHT! Now I'm having a hard time in trying to remove the fan clutch. Any idea's? I'm going to replace the factory fan with an electric unit, probably the Hayden 16". My factory fan is badly cracked. Maybe someone can suggest a plug and play kit available some where. Any suggestions you may have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks... Jeff

 

[DMan446]

Easiest way is to go to autozone and rent the clutch removal tool they have. If it is really tight, you might have to find some pipe or something to give you more leverage. Be sure to get the one for the 4.0, the idiots tried to give me the one for the 4.9 and it is bigger and wont fit.

 

[Jeff Leavitt]

DMAN446,

I picked up a hayden 16" mod. 3700 at Pep Boys, $85. not too bad. Also got the thermo relay kit $40. They had a loaner clutch tool kit that really saved the day for me. Kit has a big spanner wrench that goes on the water pump pulley bolts to hold the pump shaft from turning so you can put the pressure on the fan nut. Worked like a charm. After I got the fan and shroud out I could see how the hayden would fit. Not too good I'm afraid, almost no clearence on the water pump and didn't fit the shroud so I could mount it like you did. I had a new fan clutch on hand, so went back to the stock set up and returned the Hayden to pep boys. I still have to test it to see how it will do on a hot day, so may still have to go electric. I'm thinking a setup with two 10" fans would do a better job than the hayden 16" mounted directly on the radiator. The real deal for you was mounting the fan to the shroud, wish I could have done that. Thanks for your help Dan.... Rgds, Jeff

 

[DMan446]

Mine was set up to be either pusher or puller. If you get the pusher type, it clears up the WP clearance issue. Also mine had the mounting tabs that are on the fan itself. So I had to drill 4 little holes in the shroud, one where each tab on the fan was. The fan itself is not a direct fit. the is like 1-1.5" gap around the parimeter of the fan. Also it is probably not the best method, but sind the tabs were vertical and the shroud face it vertical, I had to use 3 zipties on each tab. You can kinda see the way it is in the pics now that I mentions details. The zipties are not a permenant solution for me, just testing the product incase I have to remove it for any reason. That and the mesquitos were having me for lunch, so I had to rush it a bit. Sorry it didnt work out for you.

I will snap off some close up pics for you this afternoon so you can get a better look at what I did. One of the main reasons why I "engineered" mine this way was bacause I didnt want to be stabbing mounting pins through my radiator.

Will let you know when I get the pics up.

 

[DMan446]

Pics added... www.geocities.com/dmanswells/faninstall.html

Dan

 

[Jeff Leavitt]

Fan's Again!

Dan, Everyone,

Dan, Some guys are thinking all the time! Your idea to reverse the flow and mount the fan backwards is way cool.. Don't know why but your shroud mounts a little different than mine aside from that I could have done as you did and I bet it would have worked, I just wasn't smart enough to see the reverse idea...

Everyone, Thanks to all the great posts I read about the fans, I gained some valuable insight. I'm still scheming on an electric but it will have to use the existing shroud. Here's why. I tested the replaced fan clutch today. First thing I noticed was fan noise, not objectionable, but was really noticable. My air conditionong had been pretty lame before the new clutch. Now, the air is COLD. Huge improvment. Now, I'm thinking that if the replacement doesn't pull air through the A/C condenser area on the radiator, your A/C performance will suffer. So, I'm concluding that it's really important to have the shroud cover all of the core if your using A/C or other coolers in front of the radiator. Did the road test, with the A/C on. I'm below the N all the time except when going up a long steep hill slow then is goes to N-O. May just be my imagination, but everything seems to work better! Much more comfortable to tool around with the A/C on and the windows up... Thanks again everyone.... Regds, Jeff

 

[DMan446]

With the fan control kit, it has an A/C override wire. There are different ways to actuate it. Wether it be off the compressor or seperate toggle. But it turns the fan to a constant "ON" when you have the A/C turned on.

I set mine up a little different. I noticed the compressor runs periodicaly even if you are not using the A/C, thus still using the HP to run it. So I have a double switch (four poles). So one one side I have it tied into the pressure switch, thus the compressor does not do the periodic cycling, and the other side is to control the constant "ON" fan function. It sounds a little confusing. I do not have any power running through or from the pressure switch, I meerly have it interupted through the switch. Cuz if the system doesnt get the "OK" from the pressure switch, it doesnt run.

In addition it allows me to just turn the fan to "ON" when I need extra cooling for any reason, but not running the Compressor. I can't help it, I'm a nut for "Special engineering"