| Author | Message | ||
     Donald McFarlane (Dsmcf) New Member Username: Dsmcf Post Number: 24 Registered: 11-2003 |
Having delayed some work on my vehicle for a week while I located a suitable fan clutch wrench set, I went to work this past weekend with great expectations. They were short lived. Indeed, the universal set that I had purchased (a 36mm wrench and one of these funny looking ones that grabs one of the bolt heads and pushes against another) did seem like it was making appropriate contact with the pulley wheel bolts and the big old nut respectively. HOWEVER I was unable to loosen the assembly. I am aware from the service manual that this assembly is a LH (counter-clockwise) thread, and was therefore applying force in a clockwise direction. And yet, with me pulling on one tool and a friend pulling on the other, we were unable to loosen it. At which point I decided that before I broke anything I would investigate further. SO Tell me, if you please, is it typical that either or both of the following hypotheses are true? 1. This was assembled with no anti-seize some four and a half years ago and has not been taken apart since (despite my having previously had the serpentine belt replaced at my 30,000 mile service). 2. It was simply assembled with an incredibly high torque and I should work to apply absurdly large forces to the problem, a la the brute force and ignorance solution, except with a little less ignorance. Thoughts and prior experiences are invited... | ||
| Jeff Mclaird (Granitedisco) New Member Username: Granitedisco Post Number: 34 Registered: 08-2003 |
I used a strap wrench purchased from Autozone $9.99 and a bloody great big spanner (sorry wrench) - also a few judicial hits with a hammer and large screwdriver. It took a bit of sweat but it came off in the end. Hope you have better luck at the next attempt Jeff | ||
| wayne reyes (Snodog) Member Username: Snodog Post Number: 44 Registered: 07-2003 |
ditto | ||
| Darryll Mills (Emnat) New Member Username: Emnat Post Number: 15 Registered: 11-2003 |
"great big spanner" now you are talking my language cheers | ||
| Donald McFarlane (Dsmcf) New Member Username: Dsmcf Post Number: 27 Registered: 11-2003 |
Excellent. Sounds like brute force is the answer. Although I may spend the rest of the week bathing it in oil in preparation for said force. It was also suggested that a blow torch to differentially warm up the nut could be useful, however as useful as that might be I ran away screaming at the merest thought of all the dsmage I could do poking blowtorches into my engine. So brute force coupled with some judiciously applied impacts from a mallet it shall be. Of course, if I had a workshop, I would be thinking right now of taking a tool steel flat and cutting it to match the mutch longer special Land Rover tool that not only provides more leverage but also bears upon all of the pulley bolts not just 2 in opposition. Ah well... | ||
| thom mathie (Muskyman) Senior Member Username: Muskyman Post Number: 462 Registered: 11-2002 |
mine took a few moments of heat from a mapp gas torch and a couple raps with a mallet on the wrench. heat is not the enemy....just dont over do it or start the plastic fan on fire  | ||
| Reed Cotton (Reedcotton) Senior Member Username: Reedcotton Post Number: 277 Registered: 01-2003 |
When I first took mine off, it took a bit of force to break the torque. I used an adjustable monkey wrench with parallel jaws, (I think this may have come from an old Series Rover tool kit), and a good length of pipe over the handle of the wrench. Once the torque broke it was almost finger loose. Almost... Now if needed, I still use the same wrench, but it only takes a slight tap with the right hammer to pop it loose. (No cheater bar needed) -Reed | ||
| Tony Zuniga (Tony23007) Member Username: Tony23007 Post Number: 217 Registered: 05-2003 |
Are you planning on replacing the unit, if so than you probably have the replacement at hand, I took mine to O'Riley and rented a tool specific for Fan Clutch removal, it's basically a large spanner that fits the nut on the clutch perfectly. With that tool the unit came off in seconds!!! Just a though it, it cost $124 to rent it, but you get every penny back when you return the wrench given you don't damage it. | ||
| Peter Matusov (Pmatusov) Senior Member Username: Pmatusov Post Number: 1168 Registered: 09-2002 |
$124 to rent a wrench? | ||
| Sergei Rodionov (Uzbad) Member Username: Uzbad Post Number: 219 Registered: 08-2003 |
Hmm.. i done mine with adjustable wrench (whatever they called - flat wrench that you can adjust for different sizes) and little crowbar to prevent pulley from spinning. Took some convincing, but i got it out. Word of advice (works like magic on some other hard to get off rover bolts/nuts) - get in local hardware store piece of some serious metal tube, like 2-2.5" in diameter and about 1.5-2.5' long. You can use it as an extension (put it over your wrench handle) and that could increase applied force greatly |
