Hello RF

This week my 2000 ford rangers fan clutch went bad. I spun it by hand and stuff started falling out of the opening near the shaft and the seal was broken.

Its a 3.0 with about 170,000 on her.

Heres the problem. I have tried everything I can think of to get the clutch off the water pump pulley. I rented the OEM clutch fan removal tools but they don't fit anywhere on the pulley. I broke my strap wrench holding the pulley. It says LH threaded. I sprayed some PB Blaster in it too.

I have tried everything but heat and I am afraid that I will hurt the water pump. I don't think I could get my propane torch in there anyway.

What should I try next?

Heres a pic of the truck too
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you need an air hammer. make sure you are turning it clockwise from the front of the vehicle. One squirt with an air hammer will bring that fan clutch to its knees...make sure the belt is still installed.

 

Must be the weekend for it I just done changing mine, mine was a little hard coming off too I took a big wrench and cracked it with a hammer fast. to get mine off it was counter clockwise facing the truck, but mine is a 93 maybe there different

 

This. I used on on my 4.0 clutch fan on the old truck. A couple quick blasts and then it should be loose enough to grab with channel locks or what not.

 

Thanks for the help. It sucks not having air tools.

I think the 4.0s have regular right hand threaded clutch fans. 3.0s are left threaded.

I am going to give it another go today if i get some time and I'll let you know what worked for me. I am getting flash backs of my EGR valve that was such a bitch to get off. This would really save me some money if i could crack this thing off

 

They're all left hand thread.
If you have a longer metal or brass rod, use that and a hammer to give the thread a couple of taps to get it to move.

 

Thanks I will get one of my longer extensions and use that. Great idea. I hope all of this wont damage the water pump.

 

leverage > power. metal pipes always win

 

Update.

I finally figured out the best way to get the clutch fan off. I removed the serpentine belt and loosened the 4 bolts holding the water pump pulley in place. I put the rented tool that looks like a huge fork between the water pump and the loosened pulley. This allowed me to have control over the spinning water pump pulley. The. I used a 15 inch cresent wrench clockwise and broke it free.

I hope others can read this and save some time.

Thanks to all for the help

 

This is a case where, besides gaining access to the area, "get a bigger hammer" is the actual answer.
I just replaced my fan clutch, for the second time, in my '89. Unfortunately mine doesn't have a serpentine belt. A/C, PS and alternator had to be loosened to properly get to the clutch.

Many people do not realize smacking a wrench with a hammer is akin to using an impact wrench; hence the name.
Never pry on a bolt. Prying continuously stretches the bolt. Smacking it with a hammer or using a real impact stretches it for just a second and allows it to spring back. You'll get much fewer broken bolts that way.
Also, don't forget some screws, bolts, etc, will come off easier if you tighten them just a little before attempting to loosen them.
One more thing.
An impact gun loses much of its effectiveness the more extensions, universals, etc, are between the gun and the bolt. A good case in point is the driveshaft bolts on my '89. They take a 12mm 16pt socket. My impact wrench is rated at 650lbs in reverse. It will not budge these bolts unless the socket is directly attached to the impact gun.

 

It's not a 3.0 or 4.0 issue. It's serpentine or vbelt. Also, on my 1999 Ranger the shroud has it clearly molded "clutch fan is right hand thread". I used the AutoZone rental tool, holding the big one (58mm) in position on the four water pump pulley bolts with my left hand and positioning the 36mm wrench on the clutch fan bolt. A couple of whacks (impact) with a dead blow hammer and it was loose. No heat, no air hammer, no WD40 required.

 

well i just bought an engine for my ranger and it dont even have a cluch on it at all

 

Which means it was removed from the water pump pulley before it was sold to you. Or, the previous owner had an e-fan mod done.

Do you see the threaded center shaft on the water pump pulley? This is where the clutch fan screws onto.

On my 2000 3.0 V6, and facing the engine (standing in front of it), the fan clutch bolt is required to turn clockwise to remove it. I had mine replaced about three weeks ago, and after 3 days of driving with it, the "roar" of the clutch drove me nuts! I bought a controller, a lincoln mark IV 2 speed fan, and planned a nice afternoon to do the conversion. I spent a good 45 minutes before I ended up driving it to the mechanic that replaced the fan clutch break it loose for me. Even he cused at himself for over tightening it. I can't emagine the ones that have been on for years or high mileage.

 

I had a miserable time also removing the fan clutch from the water pump pulley. I purchased the special 36mm removal tool set from Amazon for $20. This consists of a long bar pulley holder that is bolted with two pulley screws (takes a while and a lot of patience to bolt this on by the way) and a 36mm thin open ended wrench for the fan shaft nut which on my 2005 4.0 Ranger was regular threads - lefty loosey to remove. After soaking the fan nut in PB blaster overnight and using a rubber mallet to tap on the wrench it wasn't budging at all. I used an additional bar on the 36mm wrench for extra leverage and tried for over an hour to remove it and in no way was it comming off. I was able to wedge the holding bar on one of the AC compressor clutch pulley bolts which worked out really well, it held the bar and water pump pulley very solid. Out of frustration, I used a map gas propane style torch to carefully heat the 36mm fan nut on both sides being careful not to come close to the plastic fan blades. Once the nut was very hot, just a few seconds on each side, I tapped on the wrench again with the mallet and it finally broke loose! I couldn't believe it, it was finally off. When it goes back on again it is going to have plenty of anti seize compound and it will not be overtightened, never again will I go through this hassle!