After discovering yesterday my water pumps leaking ive already decided to go with a BPD water pump.. But my minds again turned back to the debate ive been having with myself over swapping to the 7.3 Fan Mechanical Fan Clutch.. Read through several threads across different forums.. even seen the articles in a few magazines.. but still on the fence right now... If i order the conversion kit with the water pump its actually cheaper than buying them separately... Both seem to have their pros and cons to them... so ill list what im seeing for reasons of both.. but like to hear from yall as well.. might help me decide.. Just an FYI I dont do a lot of heavy towing right now.. would like to someday have a 5th wheel to pull with the truck.. but not in the funds right now..

6.0 - Factory Electric Fan Clutch

Pro - watching the Fan Speed Sensor on my SGII it seems that 90% of the time its just turning in free spin for me usually turning between 500-700 rpms even when im on the highway.. only time it kicks up is when i get off the highway and have to come to a stop for a light or something.. so for the most part it seems like its not really putting a drag on the engine.. (my coolant temps are rarely over 200 except in the summers.. but even then its just over a smidge over 200)..

Con - has a bad rap for severing the control wires to the magnet at the center of the clutch since the run in front of the fan... the electromagnet on mine is little noisy as the clutch turns inside it... lots of clanging going on.. cant hear it inside but any time i walk past the front end while the engines running it sounds like a pulley with a bad bearing... that or someone dragging their trailer chains down the highway..

7.3 - Old school Mechanical

Pro - "supposedly" colder AC output both going down the road and at idle. (least thats what it says in every article and sometimes in the forum posts) No electrical wire to accidentally get severed by the fan itself.. (for me) no more noisy magnet sitting on the front of the clutch...

Con - always engaged.. constant drag on the engine... some have worried that it over cools the engine in the winter.. Sets a soft code for the fan not being there..

Another thing to consider with mine.. the Trans coolers dropped lower in front of condenser, the intercooler and the radiator... and i have a BPD remote oil cooler at the top (reason why the trans cooler had to drop down).. The EGR is deleted and the lower block off plate is in place on the intake but still have the EGR Valve in place since it supposedly messes with the factory fan clutch when its not plugged in.. Havent had issues with codes there even though its doing nothing now other than keeping the plug end clean..

 

My stock unit went 185k miles. So a new Motorcraft is what went back on. If the stock unit had issues I'd consider, but it works just fine for me.

 

according to my fuel book im just over 174K right now.. i dunno if its still the original fan clutch or not.. but if it is and goes at the same time yours does its wont be too long...

 

Mine still functioned most of the time. It had given me a code for loss of speed signal on the last trip before I replaced my heads so it was time. The new one is working flawless, now with 4k on it majority towing combined weight 22k+.

 

If you are worried about not getting enough air their is a mod you can do to splice into one of the wires and put it on a switch to turn it on manually. So I would buy a stock one and replace it while you have it apart.

 

I'm not sure if I just got a bad fan clutch from RockAuto but the Mechanical Hayden fan clutch did not work for me. I went back to the Ford Electrical with the override mod. If anyone wants to try it, I still have the adapter. You can have it as long as you pay shipping.

 

tbh ive never liked splicing into wiring... always asking for trouble doing it.. for me its not a worry of which cools better... its which would give me more a piece of mind tbh..

ive never liked RA... always costs me more when ordering parts from them than anywhere else.. if i was going with the mechanical id be ordering it from BPD in their combo kits...

 

I just had the BPD air cooled oil cooler installed and had the upgraded Motorcraft fan clutch for the 6.0 put in. The shop recommended it.

Being in CA, I don't want to have to deal with a soft code if CA decides to check for it to get it registered. Who knows what that CARB police would do to us citizens.

 

Already have the BPD oil cooler... temps been staying down both the oil and the coolant... so not worried there...

guess ill just order a new water pump and stick with the fan clutch as it is right now...

 

The heavy duty fan clutch I got put in was part number
4C3Z8A616SA if you're interested.

 

one i have still works but will save for later when it goes...

 

Double posted by accident.

 

 

I switched to the OEM 6.0 Camper/ Snow Plow clutch at the same time I did my BPD water pump and wiring guard . It helps the AC in traffic down south.
If you are not doing it yourself it's overlapping labor to just do it all at once.

 

Bpd adapter and a 7.3 fan clutch, no question about it. I'm very happy with mine!