Ok, so I went to the local Napa to buy a new fan clutch. The one they sold me was quite a bit larger the original, but the guy told me that it was the OE replacement. I installed it, and while driving down the road, I could hear that the fan was now locked in all the time. I told the guy at napa what was going on, and asked him if he mistakenly sold me the heavy duty one. He said that I had the correct one, but that he would order another one. I went down there, and talked to someone different, and after looking in his book, he saw that the computer was wrong, and I indeed had what was labeled as the severe duty fan clutch. He sold me a smaller one, that looked about identical to the original factory piece. After installing the smaller one that was supposed to now be the right one, it's still doing the same. I can hear the fan all the time while driving at highway speed, and according to the overhead computer, the mileage has gone down slightly. So, is there something I'm missing here? I mean, is it possible that I now have a brand new defective fan clutch, or is there something that I'm overlooking. The truck is a 2000 dakota quad cab with the 5.9.

 

Fan clutches take a while to be broken in before they loosen up. It is normal for a new clutch to act like that.

 

Thanks for the help, that makes me feel better, because I'm tired of dealing with it

 

Just curious about that statement........I have replaced a few, latest on an 1989 B150 - 318, and it looked identical to the orig. and acted normal right away. Same with the others I have replaced. Got any data on that or are you quoting from your own findings?......interesting.

 

For me I installed a new fan clutch a while back. It stayed connected almost all day. And along with tons of people going through the same problem and posted it up on this forum. I'm not saying it will happen to every new clutch but that is the trend we tend to see when replacing a magnum fan clutchl

 

Good to know, if one does act abnormally, I'll just tuck that bit of info away. Have a Mopar manual from 1974 that says not to store those clutches laying down on a shelf. Never found that to make any difference, and am positive the new ones I bought ever spent their life standing up vertically and they always performed OK.

 

I don't drive the truck too much, mainly on the weekends when I need a truck for something. I'm hoping you're right though. I'll have to get it out one day this week, and put some miles on it. Thanks again for your help.