How did y'all remove y'all's fans?! I can't get something that's long enough to fit in the holes on the wheel. I don't understand that.. but what else did y'all do? I looked on the write up and he said he used a rag and a adjustable wrench? I don't understand how that worked.. Please help!

 

Assuming you're talking about the main engine fan, you'll probably need to borrow a tool set from Autozone or OReilly's. (You basically leave a deposit, and as long as you return it within 48 hours, you get the deposit back in full.)

I just replaced my fan clutch, and had a heck of a time getting it off. I had borrowed a fan wrench tool set from OReilly's but then didn't have anything to hold the pulley still while I wrenched on the fan nut.

After spending the first night trying to fabricate some way to hold the pulley, I read online that I needed a pulley holder. So I went back to OReilly's the next day, only to find out that the fan wrench and pulley holder were all in the same (already borrowed) tool set, and that I already had the pulley holder at home with the fan wrench.

The "pulley-holder" is actually just a huge wrench with roughly a 3" opening that can be placed behind the bolts that hold the pulley in place. Ideally, you should be able to loosen the bolts on the water pump pulley, and slip the wrench behind the bolts, before tightening the bolts so the wrench stays with the pulley. Then you can hold the pulley still while you use your fan wrench to remove the fan clutch nut.

Unfortunately, my pulley didn't have four bolts - just unthreaded holes where bolts could have gone. I ended up having to put four random bolts in the holes, and (because the bolts didn't tighten to the pulley) balance the pulley wrench while torquing the fan wrench - at one point it slipped, and I hit myself in the face, which caused no end of swearing. It was a pretty stupid design, imho, but I was finally able to remove the fan...

Good luck!

 

damn.. so I have to put it all back together! Thanks alot, very helpful.

 

i shoved an allen wrench into one of the holes at the base of the fan and spun it until it caught something and the fan unscrewed no problem after that

 

Man, I wish something like that would have worked for me! I tried a bunch of different things like that, but nothing I did (with the exception of eventually jury-rigging the pulley wrench) would hold that pulley still.

 

Nola grab ahold of the attachments where the fan attaches (the circular wheel with the stud in it. When you rotate the nut the stud sticking out from the engine will hold it so you can remove the fan.

 

I forgot that there are two different fan styles. Mine was for a Ram 1500, which has "max cooling," effectively removing any space to hold the stud. The Dakota may well be different, in which case Cuban's advice should work...

 

Here is a picture for reference: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7051133...=1277856282360

 

Looks good cuban, but would it be difficult to remove the fan with a monkey wrench?

 

i used a monkey wrench that looks more like a ford wrench, http://www.gp.lib.mi.us/information/...y%20Wrench.JPG , it worked for me.