Alternate brand of fan clutch to Motorcraft?
#1
09-14-2023, 11:38 AM
Alternate brand of fan clutch to Motorcraft?
I took the truck and RV from our home south of Tucson to San Antonio, TX last month in 100 degree weather. It performed admirably given the extreme heat. The OBS pulley mod was a success, IMO, because I could blast up any hill I wanted to now without overheating unless it was over 4,000 foot elevation and I was going 75mph. Then the engine would make more heat than the cooling system could keep up with, even with the AC turned off. Having the AC on or off made no difference.
OK, so with that said, I've found out that the Motorcraft fan clutch that I have on the truck, it won't disengage. Taking it off, I found that the little bimetal coil on the front of the unit is disconnected and it just spins around as if it's not connected to the valve mechanism inside. So I'm getting ready to spring for another fan clutch, and given this one's not so reliable service record and my first hand experience with dealing with pattern failures, has anyone found a good brand of severe duty fan clutches. I bought a cheapo when I put on the OBS pulley that was advertised as fitting a Superduty, but out of the box I could see that it was not as robust a design as the Motorcraft. It was a lot thinner from front to back and it works ok if I'm not pulling the trailer, but as soon as it needs to stay engaged it works for about 20 minutes, then lets go and won't re-engage until I pull over and let it cool off for a few minutes. So that one came right back off and I put on the Motorcraft one that won't disengage for now. Noisy fan all the time when driving, but at least I don't have to worry about overheating.
So anyway, I don't want to buy another Motorcraft if someone has found one that works better. It MUST BE a severe duty fan clutch, these 550s were made to work and they make a LOT of engine heat on the hills and I'm pulling a 13k trailer with a 10k truck, 4.88 gears.
Thank you for all the help everyone and apologies for the long winded post.
OK, so with that said, I've found out that the Motorcraft fan clutch that I have on the truck, it won't disengage. Taking it off, I found that the little bimetal coil on the front of the unit is disconnected and it just spins around as if it's not connected to the valve mechanism inside. So I'm getting ready to spring for another fan clutch, and given this one's not so reliable service record and my first hand experience with dealing with pattern failures, has anyone found a good brand of severe duty fan clutches. I bought a cheapo when I put on the OBS pulley that was advertised as fitting a Superduty, but out of the box I could see that it was not as robust a design as the Motorcraft. It was a lot thinner from front to back and it works ok if I'm not pulling the trailer, but as soon as it needs to stay engaged it works for about 20 minutes, then lets go and won't re-engage until I pull over and let it cool off for a few minutes. So that one came right back off and I put on the Motorcraft one that won't disengage for now. Noisy fan all the time when driving, but at least I don't have to worry about overheating.
So anyway, I don't want to buy another Motorcraft if someone has found one that works better. It MUST BE a severe duty fan clutch, these 550s were made to work and they make a LOT of engine heat on the hills and I'm pulling a 13k trailer with a 10k truck, 4.88 gears.
Thank you for all the help everyone and apologies for the long winded post.
#2
09-14-2023, 01:03 PM
Fleet Mechanic
#3
09-14-2023, 02:23 PM
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#8
09-15-2023, 08:37 AM
That's what I needed to hear. I've seen this before, but was feeling hesitant to try it. If you've had good results with it, I'll go ahead and get one and post back in a few months to update. Thank you.
#9
09-15-2023, 10:50 PM
I replaced mine with an OE from oreilly, but ended up paying an arm and a leg for it. Also learned the truck fan is a little thicker than my van fan, or atleasst I had to modify t he rad mounts to sit further front to get it to clear. I found out when the fan moved back and forth and poked a hole in the old rad. We all know these trucks love money.
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#10
09-18-2023, 03:01 AM
Did some research on this subject a few years ago when I replaced my water pump and radiator. Found that the Motorcraft fan clutch is supposedly made by Hayden. I can tell you that the new Hayden unit I installed on my 2000 f250 7.3 engages more and for longer periods of time than the original "Motorcraft" unit. I tow a 12k gooseneck trailer quite a bit, probably 70% of the accrued 395K miles on my truck, with absolutely no overheating issues at all. If you are replacing the fan clutch, carefully examine the fan blade itself, 20+ years and untold miles can cause stress cracks in the nylon fan blades-I found some in mine and my other '99 F350 7.3-I replaced both fan blade assemblies. Hope this info is helpful
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#11
09-18-2023, 06:54 AM
Did some research on this subject a few years ago when I replaced my water pump and radiator. Found that the Motorcraft fan clutch is supposedly made by Hayden. I can tell you that the new Hayden unit I installed on my 2000 f250 7.3 engages more and for longer periods of time than the original "Motorcraft" unit. I tow a 12k gooseneck trailer quite a bit, probably 70% of the accrued 395K miles on my truck, with absolutely no overheating issues at all. If you are replacing the fan clutch, carefully examine the fan blade itself, 20+ years and untold miles can cause stress cracks in the nylon fan blades-I found some in mine and my other '99 F350 7.3-I replaced both fan blade assemblies. Hope this info is helpful
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#12
04-28-2024, 08:22 PM
Cargo Master
Put a Hayden unit on a couple months ago when I did the water pump and t-stat and just today…truck got hot enough pulling a 5th wheel to blow coolant out past the cap and made a mess on the underside of the hood.
maybe I got bad one that’s too loose and doesn’t lock up fast enough but mistake #1 probably was not replacing the radiator cap at the same time as the rest of the stuff… possibly part of the trouble today, and mistake #2 was possibly not going with the Motorcraft unit again. Never had an overheat with that one even in 90* degree temps with the A/C on and a 12,000 lb 5th wheel in tow. Today? It was 55-60 degrees, no A/C, was a pulling a pretty good hill with an 11k 5th wheel in 1:1 holding it about 50 mph with part throttle…not even going hard on it in other words. And it starts to get hot. Oil temps crept up into the 230’s and peaked at around 240-241 which is a good 10 degrees warmer than I’ve ever seen and I was seriously concerned at that point. At that point the fan must have locked up because the temps came down quickly into the 215ish range and all appeared normal for the next 30-40 miles until I stopped.
Not sure if the cap is to blame or the clutch or some combination of both. I can tell you this clutch has a lot more slippage than the old Motorcraft unit ever did and I noticed immediately the oil temps ran quite a bit warmer even running empty. 17k later it might be back to a Motorcraft asap. No way it would stand up to a hot day with the A/C running. You’d be in trouble quick pulling a heavy trailer.
maybe I got bad one that’s too loose and doesn’t lock up fast enough but mistake #1 probably was not replacing the radiator cap at the same time as the rest of the stuff… possibly part of the trouble today, and mistake #2 was possibly not going with the Motorcraft unit again. Never had an overheat with that one even in 90* degree temps with the A/C on and a 12,000 lb 5th wheel in tow. Today? It was 55-60 degrees, no A/C, was a pulling a pretty good hill with an 11k 5th wheel in 1:1 holding it about 50 mph with part throttle…not even going hard on it in other words. And it starts to get hot. Oil temps crept up into the 230’s and peaked at around 240-241 which is a good 10 degrees warmer than I’ve ever seen and I was seriously concerned at that point. At that point the fan must have locked up because the temps came down quickly into the 215ish range and all appeared normal for the next 30-40 miles until I stopped.
Not sure if the cap is to blame or the clutch or some combination of both. I can tell you this clutch has a lot more slippage than the old Motorcraft unit ever did and I noticed immediately the oil temps ran quite a bit warmer even running empty. 17k later it might be back to a Motorcraft asap. No way it would stand up to a hot day with the A/C running. You’d be in trouble quick pulling a heavy trailer.
#13
04-28-2024, 08:34 PM
Put a Hayden unit on a couple months ago when I did the water pump and t-stat and just today…truck got hot enough pulling a 5th wheel to blow coolant out past the cap and made a mess on the underside of the hood.
maybe I got bad one that’s too loose and doesn’t lock up fast enough but mistake #1 probably was not replacing the radiator cap at the same time as the rest of the stuff… possibly part of the trouble today, and mistake #2 was possibly not going with the Motorcraft unit again. Never had an overheat with that one even in 90* degree temps with the A/C on and a 12,000 lb 5th wheel in tow. Today? It was 55-60 degrees, no A/C, was a pulling a pretty good hill with an 11k 5th wheel in 1:1 holding it about 50 mph with part throttle…not even going hard on it in other words. And it starts to get hot. Oil temps crept up into the 230’s and peaked at around 240-241 which is a good 10 degrees warmer than I’ve ever seen and I was seriously concerned at that point. At that point the fan must have locked up because the temps came down quickly into the 215ish range and all appeared normal for the next 30-40 miles until I stopped.
Not sure if the cap is to blame or the clutch or some combination of both. I can tell you this clutch has a lot more slippage than the old Motorcraft unit ever did and I noticed immediately the oil temps ran quite a bit warmer even running empty. 17k later it might be back to a Motorcraft asap. No way it would stand up to a hot day with the A/C running. You’d be in trouble quick pulling a heavy trailer.
maybe I got bad one that’s too loose and doesn’t lock up fast enough but mistake #1 probably was not replacing the radiator cap at the same time as the rest of the stuff… possibly part of the trouble today, and mistake #2 was possibly not going with the Motorcraft unit again. Never had an overheat with that one even in 90* degree temps with the A/C on and a 12,000 lb 5th wheel in tow. Today? It was 55-60 degrees, no A/C, was a pulling a pretty good hill with an 11k 5th wheel in 1:1 holding it about 50 mph with part throttle…not even going hard on it in other words. And it starts to get hot. Oil temps crept up into the 230’s and peaked at around 240-241 which is a good 10 degrees warmer than I’ve ever seen and I was seriously concerned at that point. At that point the fan must have locked up because the temps came down quickly into the 215ish range and all appeared normal for the next 30-40 miles until I stopped.
Not sure if the cap is to blame or the clutch or some combination of both. I can tell you this clutch has a lot more slippage than the old Motorcraft unit ever did and I noticed immediately the oil temps ran quite a bit warmer even running empty. 17k later it might be back to a Motorcraft asap. No way it would stand up to a hot day with the A/C running. You’d be in trouble quick pulling a heavy trailer.
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#14
04-28-2024, 10:05 PM
Cargo Master
Hayden 2837 I believe it is after looking at my records. It was around $92 back in January and now I see they’ve got it on close out for like $53. (Huh…) Said severe duty just like all the others and visually it looked identical to the old Motorcraft unit that came off.
I’ll look again tomorrow for signs of slippage or belt too loose. Other thing I might do is see if I can track down a new cap from a Ford parts counter. Very strange it decided to do this today but not yesterday while pulling the same trailer on some tough hills. Cap failed maybe? It went from 220 to 240ish oil temp pretty quickly…like quicker than just a gradual buildup of heat. I mean like alarmingly quick like 30 seconds or so with not even getting on it hard. Then it started falling fast even though I couldn’t ever hear the fan kick on hard. Very strange.
#15
04-28-2024, 10:07 PM