I'm looking for ideas on how to remove a stuck fan clutch on my 2009 H3 Alpha w 130k miles that spent most of its life in Ohio. Someone in the past used an air chisel on the nut and damaged it. Not sure if they actually got it off, or just gave up and left it on. Clutch is bad and has to go.

I have not been able to budge the nut even using a pneumatic fan clutch wrench with my air hammer. Maybe I just need a bigger air hammer or compressor? I'm using a small 90 psi 4 gallon compressor and short barrel air hammer. Wrong tool? I don't thing there is enough room in there to get heat on the nut without damaging the fan blades, but could be wrong on that. Anyone done that?

Anyone know if there is enough room to get the pump and fan out as a complete unit? I'm super hesitant to do this with truck's rust belt history - getting old fasteners out has been pretty challenging for anything on the frame thus far, but maybe the pump bolts would be easier? Certainly it will be much harder to get the pump bolts out if the fan is still in the way. What could go wrong? lol

Anyway, I'm looking for any and all crazy ideas on how to get this off, or things you have done that worked. I've got a new clutch on the bench and new water pump, tensioner, idler and belts will get here tomorrow, so I don't need to worry about damaging any of the old parts. Time to break out the sawzall? Or should I just give up and take it to a mechanic while its still running?

 

Have you sprayed it with Kroil or a good penetrating nut buster? I would do that 2-4 x per day for a couple days, then see if that helps. If that does not do anything, it is time for some heat. Worse case, remove the cowl and radiator where you can get after it... then just go full water pump replacement if that sucker is not giving up.

The FC Nut should come off using a fan clutch wrench and one tiny tap with a hammer. You have a a deformed mess that some knucklehead before you created. I bet they bent the nut out of round so it is stuck good like a crush lock nut.

Please follow up with what you do to get it done.

 

Thanks Doc. I've only hit it with PB blaster a couple of times over a couple of days, so I'll step up the cadence until my new parts get here.

Any idea if I can get the fan off the clutch while its all still in the truck? Can you get the pump out without removing the fan/fan clutch?

Thanks!

 

sawzall or hacksaw for a last resort ? or maybe try split the nut with a dremmell disc?

 

Sawzall is my last, last resort if all else fails. There's only 1/2" of working space between fan clutch and pump pulley, so no way to get a cutting disk in there. I'm also not sure if the sawzall will will work on the heat-treated water pump shaft - that's a pretty thick chunk of steel to cut through in a tight space using a long blade.

Next on the agenda of things to try is heat and beat - I picked up an extension hose for my MAP torch today so I can get it in there tight and put heat right on the nut. I also picked up a long barrel air hammer so I can beat the pneumatic clutch wrench a little harder now. I already removed the plastic shroud so there should be fewer things to set on fire. lol.

If heat and beat doesn't work I think I will probably try to remove the whole water pump, fan clutch, and fan as a single assembly. I confirmed this morning that I can reach around the fan and put a tool squarely on each of the water pump bolts so that actually looks like a promising path.

I also figured out that Dorman still produces an aftermarket fan disk for the V8 so I ordered that and its on the way here on Sunday, meaning it's not as critical to get the old one off after all. At this point I've thrown more money on new tools than the new Dorman fan costs. I've still got a couple of more days to keep fighting with it to see if maybe I can get my money back on the fan before I have to hang my head in shame, let go of my pride, and admit that I was beaten by a stupid fan clutch nut.

 

Jmho
Time and sanity are worth more lol. Cut it out. Replace water pump, fan and FC.

 

Yeah, agree there. Heating the clutch nut didn't get me anywhere, but I now have a fan with a nice brûlée on it. lol. The nut is stuck on there but good - What a PITA this job has been!

I started the job thinking I would just replace the fan clutch, easy peasy in and out. Then when things went south I bought all the parts to replace everything if I needed to. The truck is at 130k miles and I really don't know if any of them have been replaced before. Yesterday I pulled the pump, clutch and fan as a complete assembly, so no cutting on the vehicle needed. New parts are are going in this weekend. I'm still gonna see if I can figure out how to separate the fan from the clutch and save $100 on the new fan, but I've got one arriving tomorrow if I can't.

Silver lining, I now have a new, bigger air hammer and a fancy pneumatic fan clutch wrench. Last time I did a fan clutch was 15 years ago (maybe longer) and I still have the BMW specialty tools from that job, so I might just return the fan clutch wrench and recoup some of my $$$ there.

 

I looked and did not see that you know it is a left hand thread (reverse thread) so you need to loosen it by turning the wrench to your left.

 

Yep, that's what I was doing. For good measure I did try the other way too just to see if tightening it might let me loosen it. No matter what I tried the nut never budged. I wish I could get it off so I could figure out why it was stuck.

After I removed the whole pump/clutch/fan assembly from the truck I clamped it to a work bench and gave it my best shot. Air hammer with the pneumatic fan clutch wrench, pounded with a 5 lb sledge and punch, then chisel, then went to town on it with a sawzall. After dulling three blades trying to cut through the solid waterpump shaft I gave up and tried to split the nut alternating between air chisel and my sledge with a real chisel. No joy there either - there isn't really enough space to get edge to edge on the nut and it has a large flange against the clutch that needs to be split also. I think a longer chisel bit on the air hammer might have worked, but as soon as that new Dorman fan arrived I I moved on and put the truck back together.

One thing I noticed with the new clutch and water pump is that there is now a gap between the water pump pulley and the fan clutch nut that I didn't have with one I took out off. Either way, its back together and running fine now. No leaks!

Now I'll just have to wait for some 100+ deg weather later this summer to see if all my work actually fixed things so the truck keeps her cool in the heat!

 

I can can relate. I quite often optimistically go into working on the jeep XJ or the H3 and then damnit if murphy's law doesn't show its ugly head lol! Something that should have been easy peasy like you stated takes a frikin week. I think that is why I'm dragging a bit extra on the h3 exhaust manifold broken bolts. I got a lot of other projects to do, so no bigge but at some point I'm going to have to deal with it. Ahh! procrastination..