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900 series fan clutch on a LDT deuce?

dittle

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Albia, IA
How much power do you think a fan actually pulls? Granted I'm sure it affects mileage some but will changing the setup get you the increase you are after?
 
How much power do you think a fan actually pulls? Granted I'm sure it affects mileage some but will changing the setup get you the increase you are after?
not sure about these smaller fans but on big truck when pulling a hill and the fan engages I can feel and see the loss in power. been told 25 hp.

heres a pic of a drive unit on a 250
 

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chess

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bloomington,ca
on my m923's when the fan clutch goes out it takes the radiator out with it. i bolt the the fan to the clutch so its always spinning but it eats the bearings out. i replace them once maybe twice a year depending on how hard the job is.
 
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jesusgatos

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on the road - in CA right now
on my m923's when the fan clutch goes out it takes the radiator out with it.
Do you mean the fan comes loose and tears-up the radiator? If so, there's a pretty easy way to protect your radiator from that sort of thing. Off-road vehicles that use mechanical fans will often have a guard on the backside of the radiator that looks sort of like a miniature hoola-hoop, and some type of framework to support it. The idea is to create a smooth circular surface for the fan to smash up against, to keep the fan from tearing up the radiator.
 

jesusgatos

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on the road - in CA right now
Ah, right on. Hope that tip saves a few radiators. Not my idea, just something I've seen done.

Have been following this thread because I'd like to put my fan on some type of a clutch. Wondering though, if there might be a way to adapt an electric clutch (like off an AC compressor) instead of a more typical mechanical thermostat. Could wire that to a thermostat, but then would also have the ability to turn the fan on/off manually. Any fans have clutches like that? Not afraid to modify parts from other applications, but also not going to start trimming fan blades (wobble wobble wobble).

Was thinking about replacing the tensioning arm with some type of linear actuator, but that would only be useful for fording, and useful might not be the right word. Have just been stuck on this idea of creating a fording system that doesn't require the driver to stop/exit the cab to prepare for deep water crossings.
 

Green Toys

Member
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Location
Florida
OK, finally here on the pictures. You all made me worry that it might be out of ballance by welding, so this is how I re-did the clutch. As you can see there is no welding, I made the adapter by using a washer and a center bolt from a leafspring pack, and a 1 1/2" set coller. As for trimming the fan. I trimed 1/4" wide 1" long on the tips of the blades. The fins are alumium, I dont think that I could have been off enough to make a damaging vibration. Also the new fan with clutch and adapter is still lighter than the orignal steel fan. The clutch and fan are for a 1996 f-350 with a 460 motor. you can see the Napa part # in the picture. I love this mod, the only problem I have found is running the gears out too far, The motor is much quiteter.

Good Luck

PS I cant Spell to well. LOL
 

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sp00n

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Huntsville, AL
OK, finally here on the pictures. You all made me worry that it might be out of ballance by welding, so this is how I re-did the clutch. As you can see there is no welding, I made the adapter by using a washer and a center bolt from a leafspring pack, and a 1 1/2" set coller. As for trimming the fan. I trimed 1/4" wide 1" long on the tips of the blades. The fins are alumium, I dont think that I could have been off enough to make a damaging vibration. Also the new fan with clutch and adapter is still lighter than the orignal steel fan. The clutch and fan are for a 1996 f-350 with a 460 motor. you can see the Napa part # in the picture. I love this mod, the only problem I have found is running the gears out too far, The motor is much quiteter.

Good Luck

PS I cant Spell to well. LOL

Glad someone was interested in trying. Today seems like a good day to set something like this up. Thanks
 

jatonka

Well-known member
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Location
Ephratah, New York
I have been told that the LD 465 engine fan uses 15 horse power at full throttle. I expect to have Green Toys build one for me so that I can have 12% more horsepower in my deuce. JT Out
 

Rattlewagon

Member
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16
Location
SW PA
That looks like a pretty nice set up you got there Green Toys. I think it will be copied many times! Thank you for all the great info!
 

Green Toys

Member
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Location
Florida
The adapter is very simple to construct, the costly part is the fan, you can buy a junkyard fan with clutch for $50-$75, but then you need to replace the clutch b/c it is 15 years old, new clutch is $65. So its going to cost you about $30 for the adapter and new bolts, Project total will be aroud $175 bucks, I think its worth it. I have put about 100 miles in it soo far and have had no troubles, I have notices the temp running about 20 dregrees warmer, now it runs 165 most of the time where before it was 140. I havent pulled any thing heavy yet, I dont want to build any adapters untill I can prove it will cool like it needs to. I figure I will pull with it this weekend and let you all know,

Thank you for the kind words,

Green Toys
 

yeager1

Member
335
0
16
Location
Colorado
I read somewhere in one of the TM's (don't remember which one) that the factory fan consumes 13hp, so on a factory 130 hp motor that's 10% more power. More importantly diesels run better with more power when at temp, and deuces are rarely at the right temp in anything but hot weather. So you have 13hp more over a properly warm deuce @ 180 degrees, and much more then that over a deuce running at less then 180 degrees. Running at the correct temp will also increase engine life and fuel mileage significantly. Warm up time is also reduced. Not bad for $175.
 

jesusgatos

Active member
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on the road - in CA right now
Removed the fan from mah deuce this morning and took some measurements:
  • fan mounting pattern: 4 x 3.125" & 2.1875" center-to-center (across the pilot-hub)
  • fan pilot hub dimensions: 1.5" in diameter x .5" thick
  • fan diameter: 20"
  • fan blade total thickness: 2"
  • distance from fan mounting surface to forward edges of fan blades: 1.0625"
  • distance from fan mounting surface to back edges of fan blades: .9375"
  • distance from fan mounting surface (forward) to radiator: 1.75"
  • distance from fan mounting surface (backwards) to back of fan shroud: 1"

Wondering if somebody could verify these dimensions on another truck, because it looks like the fan/clutch that Green Toys installed is quite a bit thicker than would fit between my water pump pulley and radiator.

How are these pulleys mounted to the water-pumps? Pressed-on? Wonder if the pulley could be modified, or a new pulley made, to make a bit more room?

Would like to figure that out before I start looking for parts, but a quick google-search turned up the following companies. Any other good sources for this type of stuff? Looks like Horton makes a lot of different clutches, and seems like some of them could be thermostatically and/or manually controlled. Having the ability to manually override would be pretty cool (thinking about fording).


Actually started looking into clutches specifically because of fording, and only later thought about the parasitic power loss and noise. Would have been a much lower priority, but am pretty much set on making something work now.
 

jesusgatos

Active member
2,689
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Location
on the road - in CA right now
Don't want to pull the waterpump pulley on mah deuce if I can avoid it, but if any of you guys can help me figure out if we have any room to work with there (modifying or making custom pulleys), I don't mind doing the rest of the research and design-work.
 
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