Hello,

That is one large nut holding the fan clutch to the pulley! I understand the concept that you must immobilize the pulley with a strap wrench and break the big nut free. The nut is bigger than any open-end wrench I own, even bigger than my crescent wrench. I have a monkey wrench but that will tear up the nut ...

Has anyone had any real-world experience they would like to share?

Thanks

Auto parts stores should rent a fan clutch removal kit.

Most places around here just require a deposit so it's fully refunded once you bring the tool back.

Random example:

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Curent 2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 owner - Build Thread for her: Logan's 2003 Mach 1

Former 2003 Ford Ranger owner - Build Thread for her: Project Budget Buster

Good idea. The local Autozone rents tools. I'll check it out.

Mine was reinstalled so tight when timing chains were replaced, I broke the rented tool and ended up using Sawzall to cut it off. Be sure not to over tighten when you put it back on. it will tighten some when you start truck back up.

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I believe the nut is torqued to 41 lb-ft. I have a strap wrench for oil filters, do you think that's sufficiently strong to hold the pulley?

If you go the AutoZone rental route - the kit has a tool to lock it in place as well.

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Curent 2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 owner - Build Thread for her: Logan's 2003 Mach 1

Former 2003 Ford Ranger owner - Build Thread for her: Project Budget Buster

Perfect, thanks. I appreciate the good advice here.

The tool I rented was pretty much useless. I ended up just going for a strap wrench and very large adjustable wrench. Don't even try to pull it off of there without taking the air pipe off. You'll run out of swear words too soon.

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2003 Ford Ranger XLT
2.3L I4 Duratec DOHC, 5R44E 5-speed auto, RWD, 7.5" Open w/ 4.10 Ratio, Gibson split-rear catback
Sonic Blue Pearl with dark gray trim

One of the guys on the forums here Dogfish something aka Chrisfix on YouTube just used a piece of metal like you'd use for a bracket on a wall or something and cut a hole in the Size of the bolt on the pulley then I think he used a big pipe wrench or a big crescent I can't remember for sure but that worked pretty well it seemed.

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1994 Ranger Xlt single cab 2.3l with 5 speed manual
140K and change on the clock.
currently all stock, might do some mods in the future.

I removed my fan since the dtec comes with a mechfan, and an efan that runs on most of the hvac settings. I bought one of the cheap "performance tools" $10 wrench kits from the autoparts store. It was for the square body ranger and bII with the 2.9/4.0 etc. I had to take a grinder to make the tool fit in the holes in the dtec pulley, wasnt hard but id recommend renting the kit if you can. I also had too much b!tch in me and needed a friend to crank the wrench while I held the pulley still. Don't forget that the threads are counter clockwise!

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