Dang fan clutch

[superj]

This thing will not come off the water pump. God dang, how are y'all getting this to come loose. I tried tapping it with a hammer and tapping a drift punch on one side of the flat to spin it., I tried going backwards a tap or two. Nothing is working

 

[Bgunner]

Fan clutches are usually left handed threads. Try tightening it to actually take it off.

they sell and rent a tool that grabs the bolt heads on the pulley to help hold it still.

 

[RonD]

3.0l uses reverse threads on the fan clutch, left hand threads

Should be a "note" on that on the top of fan shroud or a label on rad support

 

[dirtymike]

Im not certain of all vehicles but my rangers come off turning clockwise

 

[RonD]

Rule of thumb is to look at the water pump pulley
If it has ribs for the "front" of the belt then its reverse threads
If pulley is smooth then its regular threads

crank spins clockwise and has ribbed pulley so any accessory pulley with ribs will also spin clockwise
And if the water pump bolt for fan clutch is spinning clockwise then a regular thread would tend to loosen up because of the fans resistance, it would unscrew itself, so reverse thread is used

Smooth pulleys would spin counter clockwise, usually idler/tensioner pulleys but also water pump pulleys

On V-belts they all spun clockwise, lol, so reverse thread on those as well

 

[superj]

This one turns clockwise. I had to take the pulley loose from the water pump and put one of those tools that use the bolts on it to hold it from turning and then put a wrench with a two foot bar in the end to get it to come loose. It's all done but the spinning of the fan back on

 

[dirtymike]

Good sticky note RonD. Plaster that where we all can find it. Dirty

 

[dirtymike]

Did you replace both the clutch and the fan?

 

[dvdswan]

So, the idiot that serviced my truck before I bought it, put a new water pump on it and used loc-tite on the fan clutch....

The fan clutch was bad, couldn't get it off. Used a sawzall and cut the SOB off. New water pump was 20 bucks.

 

[superj]

Did you replace both the clutch and the fan?

No, the plastic fan blades were still flexible and not brittle so I figured it was good

 

[dirtymike]

How did you know that the clutch was bad?

 

[RonD]

Engine temp goes up at idle or when driving slowly is a classic sign of failing fan clutch

Reason for any engine fan is to pull air thru radiator and engine bay when stopped or driving slow, above 25MPH the air coming thru the grill is plenty, over 40MPH and its more air flow than any fan could provide
That's why fan clutch was "invented", direct drive fan sucks up more power and really isn't needed 90% of the time you are driving, unless you live in SoCal, lol, then 25MPH is top speed on the freeways

 

[superj]

mine was reading a little high at idling situations where i sat for longer than a stop light worth of time. and the ac would start going warm.

 

[Uncle Gump]

The clutch fan on my Bronco II failed locked up... so they can fail either way.

It's direct drive all the time, I noticed it by the sound... you can hear it robbing power.