[:@]I pulled my fan/viscous drive off the other day, (installed new 180* thermostat and radiator, plugs/wires, distributor cap/rotor, pulled/cleaned TB, all new hoses), but inadvertantly/foolishly placed the fan/viscous drive in horizontal position.[sm=badidea.gif]In that position now for a couple of days. Is the bearing contaminated and ruined? I know in the manual it says it could happen but does it always happen? Should I try this one or go ahead and purchase a new one? Any help on this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

The worst that can happen is that the fan clutch locks up and spins full speed all the time, even at highway speeds in which the ram air cools it enough to make the clutch slow the fan. I say put it back on and drive it, if you don't notice a problem with robbed power on the highway or the truck running too cool, don't worry about it.

 

+1 on try it. it should be ok. you can't tell me that a new one somehow gets from the factory to your door w/o ever laying flat. with engine stopped, you should be able to turn it by hand with light resistence. if its too tight (cat killer, hand chopper) or too loose (engine slips too much underneath it), you'll feel it.

 

Me personnally
if the fan clutch had more than 100,000 miles on it
I would just buy a new one
rather than put the old one back on.

Since it is winter
you might also consider experimenting with running without
the fan for a slight MPG improvement...but do your research first.

old post:
=====
Following up on the air dam on/off MPG tests I did on Monday the 23rd,
today I did a MPG test run at a cruise-controlled 70 mph over the same stretch
of Interstate 40 without my radiator fan.

I filled up at the same gas station, set the air conditioning the same, and
the weather was nearly the same - 70-79 degrees. Today there was a 10-15 mph
wind coming from the west (more on that later).

The truck was about 4 lbs heavier because I was carrying the big 1 7/16 inch
wrench, hammer, and small 1/2 inch flare wrench I used to remove the fan
bolts.

By the Exxon gas pump I used 11.105 gallons of 87 octane.
By my (corrected) truck's odometer I went 218.5 miles.

MPG at 70 mph without the radiator fan was 19.68
Compared to 18.94 MPG on Monday's test with fan,
this represents about a 3.8% gain.

The Oztrip meter results from measuring fuel injector on-time were similar,
showing a consumption of 11.6 gallons over 218.7 miles
for a fan-less mpg of 19.34
On Monday with the fan the Oztrip had showed 18.86 mpg, or a gain of 2.5%

When I first started this test run at about 10 am, the Oztrip meter showed
surprisingly good MPG - about 20 - so I had high hopes for what fan removal
was going to do.

Unfortunately, I found that part of the gain on the southeast bound leg of the
trip was due to the 10-15 mph winds at my back.

When I turned around at Wilmington NC and headed back, the average mpg
steadily dropped as I now drove against a head wind. Looking at the Oztrip
trip computer numbers it seems I averaged 19.96 on the southeast bound drive
with the favorable tailwind, and 18.7 driving northwest with the unfavorable
headwind. This was the 1st time I had bothered to watch for what winds do to
mpg. Looks like they can raise/lower mpg by 1.6 even at a "calm" 10-15 mph
level.

As to the temperature of the coolant without the fan - it stayed very steady
at 180 degrees during the MPG test run even with the air conditioner on.

When I slowed to a stop at the end of the trip while turning back into the gas
station, the temp gauge indicated a momentary rise to about 195.

I actually took the fan off late yesterday afternoon and drove around without
it to experiment. As long as the truck kept moving the temp gauge stayed at
180. I parked the truck and let it idle for about 10 minutes. This raised
the temp gauge to about 210-220. I then put on the heater full blast to see
if this would lower the temperature back to 180. It did not - the temp stayed
the same and neither fell nor raised any more. I then drove the truck again.
Within 1 mile the temp had dropped to 200 and within another mile it was back
at 180 degrees F.

The fan on a 5.9V8 Magnum is kind of funky looking. It has 5 blades, but 2 of
them are bunched together and the other 3 are spaced out normally. There is a
stiffening wire embedded in the blades. It takes less than 15 minutes to take
this fan off, but if the fan had been made in two parts that split - you would
not have to take the big nut off the fan clutch - and the fan could be removed
in 5 minutes.

Instead of buying a 36 mm wrench {1.417 inches}, I cut two strips of metal
from a tin can. These strips turned out to be 0.010 inches thick. I taped
two such home-made 'shims' to the inside faces of my 1 7/16 wrench {1.4375}
which closed the opening up to 1.4375 - 0.020 = 1.4175 This worked fine to
loosen the clutch-to-waterpump nut. Make the shims 'fish hook' shaped and you
can tape them in place from the backside.

I may try to drive without the fan in city driving a bit to see what happens,
but I am carrying it with me just in case I have trouble.

I still have the Evan Cooling 'waterless' NPG coolant in my engine. This
won't boil over until 370 degrees so I have some safety factor that a normal
antifreeze would not have.
===
>Hank,
>I found better results when I installed the electric fan on my Dakota. Mag
>whereas you have the 5.9. My fan is of different configuration that yours
too. >Instead of the 7 blade fan you have, or the 5 blade fan shown in the
Dodge >ad's. I have a monstrous fan with 9 equally spaced blades. It must
weigh 15 >lbs including the clutch. My mileage went from 14.8 to 16.4, not
cruise >controlled, My highway mileage change equates to a 9.2% increase
without >the fan. John

John,
It makes sense to me that a Dakota might have a bigger gain from not using the
fan.

If a Ram uses 60-70 horsepower to cruise at 70 mph, a smaller, lighter Dakota
might use only 45-55 hp. Since the fan wastes about the same same in either
case, the Dakota mpg would go up more.

It is interesting to hear of your bigger 9 blade/heavy fan. Would this be a
'towing package' option that we have not noticed before ?

How much horsepower does the stock fan waste ?
Here's a ballpark guess -

The gaspump said I saved .425 gallons.
The Oztrip meter said I saved .28 gal
The average is .35 gallons.

This .35 gallons was saved over about a 3.1 hour trip,
or about .35/3.1 = .11 gallons per hour.

A gallon of Exxon 87 octane weighs 6.16 lbs per gallon.
So I saved .11 gal x 6.16 lbs/gal = .70 lbs gasoline per hour

A rough rule of thumb is that on average a engine will use between 0.40 and
0.65 pounds of gasoline for each horsepower that it generates per hour it
runs.

This is called by engineers the "Brake Specific Fuel Consumption",
or BSFC for short

Picking 0.55 lbs fuel/hp-hr as a part-throttle average -

.70 lbs fuel/hr divided by 0.55 lbs fuel/hp-hr = 1.2 horsepower for the fan
in the unlocked condition slipping in the silicone fluid at a reduced rpm compared to the engine rpm.

 

Hank,

5.2 2x4 1500 Tow Package has the same fan as you described. Just thought i'd help Maybe the bigger trucks are different.