How often do the fan clutches go bad? I have some play in my clutch up and down and I figured it's the water pump shaft starting to let go so I'm getting my list of parts together on rock auto and am needing to know if I should replace the clutch or save my $40. So far including the fan clutch I'm spending about $260

 

I went ahead and ordered it just for peace of mind. I ordered a new distributor, water pump with pipe, timing set with gaskets, intake gaskets with bolts, all new hoses, a blower motor resister, new radiator cap, thermostat, and pcv valves.

 

The aftermarket ones fail pretty regularly and are pretty low quality. The factory Mopar part is worth the extra investment in cash up front.

 

Mine was bad when i got the truck, Replaced it with an aftermarket and it still works fine after 14 years. If you can hear a roar from it when you start the truck and rev the motor then it's still good.

 

If you have the dough spend it on a electric fan conversion. Can get you a whole other mile to the gallon.

 

normally I'd say I would, because I want to do this but this month alone j havr spend almost $3000 on this truck. I had the transmission and transfer case rebuilt, my exhaust rotted off so I spent $534 last week on a new exhaust system, and then dropped $261 last night to do the cooling system, intake, and timing chain aswell as fix my blower fan issue....money's getting alittle tight right now lol. I still need to do front brakes and since I'm re doing all the brakes I'm going to be doing wheel bearings, ball joints, tierods, u joints ect then aswell....my ram hates me I swear

 

Fix everything right. Fix it once. Be happy lol

 

trying too, but getting the wife to understand that logic is another obstacle lol.

 

Remember if you pull the distributor, or move it at all, you will have to have DRB or equivalent scan tool hooked up to reset the fuel sync.

Dave

 

If the problem isn't purely one of financial constraint dictating that the only logical course is to trade the truck away for something less costly to keep:

Get her a long walk away from the truck along the shoulder of a distant highway, followed by begging relatives and waiting on Western Union in order to secure shelter in a strange town, and then when you finally get back home again list out what it would have cost to do it right and put it alongside what you actually paid (or are now repaying) just to finish the trip. For best effect, do this in midwinter in rural snow country or midsummer in the desert where physical discomfort and risk of death compound the inconvenience of it.

If that doesn't convince her, and especially if you've got kids who deserve to be kept out of harm's way, it's time to start a secret truck maintenance fund. Be aware of the unfortunate reality, though, that if what you've got is a genuinely unreasonable woman the discovery of your hidden money won't make her angry enough to divorce you.