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I am looking to change the belts on my 7.3L godzilla. This it my first vehicle I have had a mechanical fan attached to the motor. Does the fan need to be removed to get the belts on? Or do people typically slip it over the blades?
How many miles and what’s the year of your truck? I think you’re into a project that’s maybe not worth doing yet.
I have not done it on a gas yet but did change a fan clutch on the 6.7 once and that was enough. There is just no
room in front of the engine to work. I never did get the last couple bolts in the fan shroud.
For reference and not saying that I was smart but I had 280k on my last 6.7 with original belt. It was a 17 model.
It still looked good.
edit , yes the belt generally slips over the fan.
Last edited by Just Chilling; Apr 1, 2026 at 03:06 PM.
According to Ford's service manual you have to remove the fan but if it is open all the way around minus the clutch wire you could very well snake it around the fan. Looks the a section of the shroud comes off from the bottom so going bottom up may work better.
Thanks for the replies. I am replacing a sqeaky idler pulley, and figured I would replace the belt at the same time. Seems like it might be more work than I want to do. I'll look into how hard the fan is to remove. Worst case i'll leave the new belt under my seat for a backup.