No, you don't have to remove your fan and coolers, but it helps to pop the section of the shroud off over the top of the fan which only takes a flat screwdriver. Just the small curved section not the whole top half. It is possible to fish it through all the pulleys by just locking the tensioner at the alternator as previously mentioned. It took me about an hour, and one of the fastest tech's I know takes 15-30 minutes to do it (he did a cab off head gasket replacement in 6.5 hours).