So I tore into the truck tonight. Spent about an hour draining the coolant, taking off the coolant/washer tanks, belt, and fan shroud.

aannnnnnnd I got to taking the fan off, lol. I bought a strap wrench and gave that a go, but I am pretty sure there is no way that is going to work... the pulley is slipping very easily. I am trying this myself so if I had another person it MAY work, but I think the pulley will still slip in the strap wrench.

So, then I tried something else. I had a few pieces of 5/16" round bar laying around which is the exact size of the holes in the pulley. So i stuck a piece of the round bar into one of the pulley holes and jammed the round bar against one of the ribs on the back of the water pump... gave my 12" adjustable wrench a whack with my lump hammer aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnddddd the round bar bend the pulley around the hole (elongated it) and the round bar shot out the back, lol.

So what do I do now? How much does it cost to rent the pulley spanner wrench at a pep boys? Should I just make my own out of a bolt and a piece of 1/4" flat stock?

Also, I drained the coolant thru the petcock at the bottom of the radiator and I only got ~1 gal of coolant. Will I get more when I take the hoses off the water pump?

And lastly... I went to the dealer a few days ago to get coolant for the truck. Told the guy 6 times I have a hemi Ram, and I need the HOAT coolant. He looked it up a few times, said you need the green stuff. I said I don't think so... but he said he was certain. I called back today and talked to someone different. They told me that guy was a moron and to come in so they can exchange the coolant for the correct kind This is why I am changing the pump myself.

Thanks for the help guys... this is my daily driver so I need this thing on the road ASAP

 

Not sure how Pep Boys does it. Here at my Advance store, you can use tools like that for free (sort of). You actually pay them the retail price for the tool (and it's not new by the way) and if/when you bring it back, they refund you. Their tools tend to be pretty crappy though. I had to change the WP on my wife's Jeep a while back and went at it with a couple of neighbor buddies along with a few cold ones. We went and "bought" the fan clutch removal tool from Advance and could do nothing with it. We ended up doing something similar to what you tried - we had one guy try to push something against the pulley to keep it from spinning while we took a long wrench and hit it with a hammer. Once we got it loose, everything came right off. If you can find you an extra pair of hands, it will probably help.

Can you describe exactly how you opened the petcock? Is it a hex socket and you turn it a quarter turn or so and it opens?

You should get more coolant out when you remove the hoses but if you want to get it all out, you'll need to remove the block drain plugs. I'm going to just drain the system and flush it enough that it should be almost completely water left in the block. Then I'll add the right amount of coolant (Zerex G-05) based on the total capacity, and then finish topping off with distilled water.

 

HOAT is recommended but Ive been using Prestone in my since I bought it new back in 04.

Put a pipe wrench on the nut on the fan and remember it goes CCW. I jam the pulley with a screwdriver through it and whack the pipe wrench (CCW) with a hammer or rubber mallet

 

Got the pump off and fan. About to put the new one on.

Not for nothing but I don't trust the 06 Ram service manual that I downloaded. Unless I am looking at it wrong, the diagram of the belt routing is wrong and I am not too sure that the torque specs for the pump are right. It lists it as 43lbs for the 4.7 but only 18 ft lbs for the 5.7.... is that right?

 

I just did a flush and fill on mine with good ol' Prestone. As for the fan/water pump pulley, a spanner is not that expensive, plus there isn't all the extra driving around to return a rented device. Harbor Freight probably has the spanner for $20 or so.

 

My 04 manual says 30 ft lbs for the water pump bolts on the 5.7.

 

Watch the torquing? I torqued to specs in the book doing my water pump and stripped the bolt???? That aluminum is soft..
My book stated 43 pounds and once I stripped it I called a buddy and his older book said 30? I did the rest at 30

 

I downloaded the manual from the link in weedahoe's sig. So far I have found a couple mistakes. Especially the belt routing for the 5.7l... its not even remotely close.
Also, they have a bunch of diagrams with numbers pointing to different parts, but there is no corresponding key that tells you what they are.

As for torque specs... I just went "tight enough". I don't have a torque wrench that would read accurate enough that low. And FWIW, the 06 manual only said 18ft/lbs... that is very little. I am sure I torqued them all between 20-30ft/lbs.

 

I havent had my manual long but have seen similar funky things. In mine, it shows a diagram for removing a mounting bracket. It is in the 5.7 instructions but the label says the diagram is for a 5.9 engine.

Always good to have this forum to turn to when something just doesnt seem right.

 

+1,000,000