I've been looking at Horton electro mechanical fan clutches. These are the fan clutches that operate similar to an A/C compressor and use an electrical activated clutch to lock the fan up. It looks like a fan clutch for a International DT466 engine uses the same thread that our engines use (1.25-16 UNF 2B LH). The over all length of the clutch isn't that different from our fan clutch, but the fan mounting location is about 2" closer to the radiator. It also appears that the fan mounting holes are the same or very close if they aren't. So I think it's probably a bolt in, but I'm not sure about the 2" distance. I need to do some more looking if another fan may move the fans mounting plane. And at the clutch's prices I'm not ready to just buy one to play with. Or if the benefits would justify the hassle of installing it. It's probably 300 bucks or better to get a clutch if you can find a deal. Then you need to buy some temp switches and stuff to wire it up. It looks like when wired up factory they have a temp switch that activates them and a switch on the a/c system.

When idling with the a/c on we could have the fan locked up tight. Which would be nice so the a/c works better. And the big benefit would be the fact that the fan would be either unlocked or positively locked versus the vicious clutch that's always a mystery.

What do you guys think? The benefits worth the cost?

By chance anyone running one?

Fans and Fan Drives - EC600™/EC450® / Electromagnetic Fan Drives | Horton

 

Youve given me hope. I would love to have one of these. I had no idea the DT466 used them. I would spend the money just to have the peice of mind. The e-fans are an improvment, but not fully up to the job in extreme situations.

 

those things are several hundred dollars though ain't they? as in more than a typical whole used idi sell for?
i recall Dave S in the past speaking of them here a few years back and i seem to recall he mentioned them being 7-800 then?

Hairy,what's your complete cooling system consist of? im running the windstar dual assembly setup and they hardly ever require high speed.i had some nasty high oil temps due to a turbo w/intercooler setup that transferred to my coolant temps,but that's no fault to my water cooling system(had i still had the oem fan,it would had to of locked up a lot too.) an aux oil cooler cured that issue (though pricey,but thats the type of $ you must pay when adding on externals not meant for a n/a engine i suppose.)

junk,take a peak;
Electric Engine Cooling For The 6.9l/7.3l Navistar Diesel.

when i was n/a or even just for turbo the things were just total overkill.it wasn't until a large intercooler blocking more air,and having the little turbo work harder? that she just really heated up the oil too much and required some aux oil cooling too.that's the thing with the mods.one always leads to another and before you know it,you might as well have just sat a cummins under the hood! ok maybe not.

 

Wow. Those are great. You definitely got my attention...

 

..........................................posted on: 10-18-2009

 

Gotta check ebay for them. I've been watching horton clutches that should work for 2-3 weeks or so and I keep seeing them in the 200-400 range for new ones. We've got a large truck yard local and i thought about checking with them if they had any used ones I could get cheap.

The concern about the clutch still driving the pulleys doesn't make sense to me. The Horton clutch attaches to the front of the water pump just like the current fan clutch.

I've got a lot of other stuff to spend time and money on right now so I don't want to spend even $200 bucks to try this out yet. But it will stay on my list until it either hits the top or I find one at a steal.

I'm not a fan of the full electric route as they've always seen to be marginal. Now I know several guys like fordf250HDxlt have had good luck, but there has been a lot of people who have struggled also. Or stuck a bunch of money in the electric swap making upgrades.

My cooling systems have always been OK, but I would like the increased a/c performance at idle. And a little more assurance the fan is locked when temps are getting high.

 

I have the windstar fans as well. While i doubt my cooling system is in optimal condition, pulling a grade with an empty horsetrailer is about all it wants. Only reason it didnt overheat was because i got past the hill, it was between L and the end of normal range. This was at night, roughly 40* Now take into consideration that im going to be adding an IC, will tow during the summer, and will be pulling alot more than 4k. I havent scrapped the idea until i get a new radiator, and tidy up the shroud some more, but im not confident that they are going to be up to the job.

As for the Horton e-clutch, i would gladly drop $300 on it if i knew it would work.

 

oh i see.well first off,don't put any faith in the "normal" ranged temp gauge.they don't actually reflect "hot" (as in peaking the 240F zone) just because you see the needle over on the a or even the l or heck,even past it.
if you hooked up a real gauge and left your stock too (no point imho) to just compare it,you could see true coolant temps might just be 212-215 (just fully open t-stat) temps while the factory idiot shows L.seriously.they are a very crude guideline at best.i would start with a temp gauge before spending a penny on anything further.then you'll know your water temps.

 

Im planning to send my stock gauges off and have them rebuilt with steppers and finer senders, but they work for now. I have checked radiator temps against the stock gauge and it is consistant and accurate. Right on the hot end of normal, just touching the line is 235*, between O and R is 210, dead center of the cold bar is 100*. Granted i did have to replace the sender to be accurate, but it is accurate now. Cant expect a sending unit to last forever, that goes with any of them.

I have a small amount of buildup inside the radiator, but seems to flow well enough. A new champion is in the future. New MC t-stat, water pump has roughly 40k on it.

Basically whenever the pyro gets over 800* the fans have to kick on and it levels out until the pyro eclipses 1000* then it just climbs. Obviously air temp has bearing on this, this "test" was done at 70*

 

the DT466C (intercooled) that is in one of the fuel trucks I drive has the viscous clutch, even when pulling sum pretty big hills it seldom "lock's" up and you can hear it roar.. the wife this summer was towing horses to state fair, and was in heavy stop and go, and the factory iDi viscous clutch was working, she called me, said she could hear it. having a efan on the trans cooler sounds like a good idea.

 

If anyone is still following this thread, here is a good write up from a guy who put one of these in his PSD. I think an IDI adaptation would be almost identical. FWIW, he says the same thing, that International wanted $900 but he was able to score one for about $300. I have looked on e-Bay but so far I only found metric threaded ones. I'm pretty sure the one we need is Horton EC-450 part No. 996135. It has the correct threads.

Horton EC-450 Electric clutch fan drive. - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

Edit: Looks like he used a clutch for a T444E, which is a retro fit. That is part No. 996123, which is probably better for our use than the DT466 model.

 

I have an International Havester (IH4900) Dump truck (2002) with a DT466E engine and one of the Horton EC-450 996135 Fan Clutches. They are expensive and a hard part to find new... HORTON is apparently on back-order and the only thing available anywhere is ebay and used.

 

old thread but i am glad it came to life, this is relevant to me