How many fan clutches till I get a good one?

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

For what it's worth, the "N" of "NORMAL" on my factory gauge is consistently in agreement with 180* on my mechanical SunPro.

Factory dash gauges are as accurate as any electrical gauge; they just lack numbers to go by.

Compare several electric gauges and it becomes obvious why the manufacturers opted to omit the numbers.


My thermostat is 180* and I have never seen either gauge read above that, regardless of hill, load, or outside temperature.

My fan is on an old-school solid hub.

 

[RLDSL]

By the way has anyone ever looked into Horton as a source for a new clutch rather thay Hayden or ford. Horton makes air as well as viscus clutches.

Big time. Before resorting to electric fans, that was my FIRST choice was to see if i could get an air operated fan clutch for this thing
( I already have onboard air system ) but I checked online, then I called Horten, and its a no go, they have no air or electric engagement fan clutches ( or any fan clutches for that matter) for our engines and have no plans to be making any in the future. They do make an electric positive engagement fan clutch for the power stroke, but you have a big problem with the nut being threaded wrong

 

[chris142]

Ok. Last night I went back up the mountain. I let it get up to the end of the L in normal. Pulled over and it was @257F and it was boiling in the over flow bottle. Fan wasn't doing much. Revved it up and it still barely moved any air. Turned around and got it moving which brought the temp back down to where it belongs.

Stopped by O'Rlieys and bought another fan clutch. They made me buy one untill I returned the defective one. (we all have been there I'm sure). I put it on, luckily it only takes 5 minutes. I've noticed that this one seems more agressive, I can hear the fan when I rev it up and I could not hear the fan with the old clutch.

need to head back up the mountan to get a real test though.

 

[GOOSE]

Traveling throught the Pa. mountains and in 104 deg heat during the rally, I could definitely hear the fan lock and unlock, it reminded me of a Horten. As a result of a healthy fan clutch, and new cooling system, I never got over 220 degF. I was grossing 15-16,000lbs and had a pass drag me down to 2nd gear, for a good couple of minutes on the governor. I did notice that the turbo'ed trucks ran a bit cooler than the NA truck in our convoy.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

If my gauge got to 220*, I would be in a panic.

 

[PwrSmoke]

I ran into the same problem years ago, Chris. Aftermarket clutch lasted just long enough to get out of warranty. And I lived in a desert area then, too, so I noticed right away. Told Kragen to stuff it and bought one from Ford... late '90s.. it's still on there and working great (as evidenced by enduring the high heat at the recent rally). I vaguely remember someone offering an electric fan clutch for our trucks. Does anyone else remember something like that? I recall considering it in the '90s but it was obscenely expensive. The Ford part was a lot more expensive than the aftermarket but 10 + years later, I can't quibble about the performance and reliability. Having said that today, no doubt mine will fail tomorrow.

 

[icanfixall]

Very seldom do any of the aftermarket fan clutches measure up to the Ford oem ones. Alays keep an eye on the spring for oil leaking out and dirt buildup. If any is seen you need another clutch.

 

[chvycmnslvr68]

Well my cummins fan hub ( or dodge ) is OEM and has over 400k on it and still going fine ... Its not OEM in my chevy though ... ... I would not run anything else .... I have personally put almost 100k on this thing and it has never failed to come on ... and I have pulled some seriously heavy loads over some of the worst passes in the country ... we are talking 1st gear low range coming down to keep the brakes cool ... 7 and 8 % grades and never been able to heat the engine up ... the biggest problem I have is getting the thing to run warm enough ... when I am just running empty it wont even run at temp unless I am pulling a grade ... I have replaced the thermostat and still have the same problem ...

 

[chris142]

I went back up into the mountains yesterday. It was mid 90's and blazin hot out. Had the AC on. With the #2 fan clutch it got up to the left edge of the "M" in "normal" and the fan clutch hooked up. It moved to the middle of the "M" and stayed there.

I like this much better than the last fan clutch that let it boil in the bottle. I did not stop to see what the actual temp was........But it's cooler than it was before.


Got a winner for now.

 

[sassyrel]

( Ive got a friend in the Netherlands , I may have to hit him up ) [/QUOTE]

group buy???????????????

 

[NTOLERANCE]

I went back up into the mountains yesterday. It was mid 90's and blazin hot out. Had the AC on. With the #2 fan clutch it got up to the left edge of the "M" in "normal" and the fan clutch hooked up. It moved to the middle of the "M" and stayed there.

I like this much better than the last fan clutch that let it boil in the bottle. I did not stop to see what the actual temp was........But it's cooler than it was before.


Got a winner for now.

Recently I was pulling 9000 lbs up a hill near Baraboo Wi. About 1/3 of the way up the hill, the temp started climbing. suddlenly I could hear the clutch fan lock up. No mistaking what was happening, sounded like a wind tunnel started under the hood. Cant mistake it locking up...unless you got he AC on and the windows up!

 

[franklin2]

I wonder what type of fans international used on the dump trucks, buses and u-hauls. Didn't someone a long time ago mention you could get a different waterpump and get away from those large threaded fan clutches that Ford used?

 

[2stroke]

I wonder what type of fans international used on the dump trucks, buses and u-hauls. Didn't someone a long time ago mention you could get a different waterpump and get away from those large threaded fan clutches that Ford used?

You are right franklin the water pump is different thereby a different fan clutch the only question how long is the pump for enough room so the fan doesn't want to share space with outher components

 

[2stroke]

I forgot to say the fan is an air clutch which also takes up space that could be a problem. maybe a member on this board has a truck they built that has room to experiment with this.

 

[SparkandFire]

I bought a NOS Motorcraft fan clutch, still in original packaging (even had the copper staple in the box to keep it shut) off ebay for the blue truck a while back. I've never once ever heard it engage... not once... Of course I am an idiot because I didn't have a real temp gauge.

Anyway, I got my truck pretty hot towing the fifth wheel, temp light never came on but the gauge was way higher than I had ever seen it before.

Still no fan clutch. I locked the clutch in the black truck and I can tell %100 that it's moving air.



If there is any one aftermarket accessory I wish would come on the market it would be an air or electric lockup fan clutch. The electric fan mods are good if done right, and there is alot of benefit to doing it other than just better temp regulation... But, there's no good aftermarket fix for that either.

I am very happy with my "JHTech" modified fan clutch (JH is my initials, so don't go googling the JHTech fan clutch...)