Went to replace the Fan Clutch on my truck, and Could not get the damn thing loose from the pulley... going tomorrow to build a contraption with 2 studs welded to it to go in the holes of the pully.. ERRGG!

 

you just need a c clamp of vice grips to hold the pulley from moving when you try and loosen the fan.

 

Exactly what ^he said, use VG to hold the pulley, turn t until it catches a stud and then remove it. Myself I don't even have mine on, I removed the whole thing completely.

 

+2 on what thunder said. I think I took my shroud off when I replaced my fan clutch. Thinking back, I probably should have just done a fanclutch delete cuz mine has an efan. Oh well lol.

 

Do it RIGHT. Get a strap wrench, and do it that way. You can rent one from Autozone. As much of a fan of vice grips I am, no point higher possibility of damaging anything in the process. I got mine off without any crazyness, just the right tools.

If you have a efan, just leave it off....well, in TX, you might want it...The heat with AC running would probably merit the peace of mind for me...

 

You wont damage anything, You just tighten the vise grips enough to secure the pulley, you dont over tighten it to where it will destroy the pulley, just use common sense and you'll be fine.

 

I used a Heavy Duty Craftsman Strap wrench.. that didn't work.. I almost broke the strap..

I wound up using a pair of channel locks.. on the bish.. got it done, new clutch on.. my old one was def. non-working.. now the damn thing sounds like a fckn plane taking off and no matter what temp its at.. starting at 0-50mph the clutch is always engaged.. i stomp on the gas and right as i hit 3.5K Rpm it disengages.. so LOL at least the temps dont go up when in heavy traffic.. lol..

 

I put an aftermarket fan clutch on my Dakota last year and it did that too. It howled like a banshee if I sat idling more than 30 seconds and it holwed like that for a long time when first driving my truck in the morning or afternoon coming home from work. I had paid $60.00 for the clutch at Auto Zone. A factory fan clutch at the dealer is $130.00. I took the Auto Zone clutch off and put on a factory clutch from a wrecked Dakota at the junk yard, I paid $30.00 for it and it worked great and is still doing fine now. The donor truck had about 70 or 80,000 miles on it.

I read on some other forums too that a lot of people have problems with aftermarket fan clutches. They are way too agressive and make a lot of noise and cause bad power loss. I found out the hard way the fan clutch is just one of those parts you have to use OEM or you wind up with problems.

I have to say though, the Auto Zone Store Manager was ultra cool and gave me a full cash refund on their fan clutch, even though the part was over 30 days old. I did not expect that. I would have been just as happy with a store credit on it.

Jimmy

 

I got the one from Advanced for $52... What is the lowest Thermostat (Temp wise) I can go untill the sensors do not go into a closed state? I hear the sensors are all temp regulated by the temp reading of the motor.. Whats the lowest i can do too with out causing them to stop working or undesired decrease in performance and MPG.

I am considering the following:

1. Replace Thermostat (Again) with 180 stat because it did run cooler even at idle with the fan just moving while clutch not engaged (Because the clutch did not engage at all. )

2. Remove the Magna-Crap Cat and put my factory back on.. as I have loss quite a bit of get up and go after i put this CAT on.. At first it was ok.. I thought it was ok.. seemed to have a nice growl to it and wanted to spin tires at take off more.. but needless to say.. that does not count for anything.. Ohh.. I can spin tires like a jack ***.. -->

 

180 is the lowest you can go.

did you put a highflow cat on there?