Replaced the fan clutch over the summer and have noticed a drop in fuel milage. Saw the video of Mike stopping his fan, got me to wondering, so I went and checked mine same as Mike. Chewed the end off a 2 x 4. Question is how do you loosen one up? It is not frozen up it is just really tight causing the fan to be under load all of the time...

ISX has removed hes for over 2 years now... Winter and summer... As for MPG gains there is none if the fan is functioning properly. He's a bit crazy...

ISX is the only man i know that will turn his heater on full blast in the summer. fortunately according to him he does not have to do that often. Mike is your fan clutch the oe?

Mike is your fan clutch the oe?

Yes sir...

did it always spin like that? i dont ever remember mine spinning that freely. of course every thing was working right and i did not see any reason to check it out.

After making that video of my fan clutch which happens to be a nearly 10 year old fan clutch now and it still works fine for lockup while towing you can still hear it like a turbo prop plane. But after finding out that fan rolls free like that I call BS on the need for electric fan because virtually the fan is not creating any load as long as its unlocked.I ran for nearly a month in the cool of the winter and seen no change in coolant temps nor did I see a change in MPG's because the fan is not loading the engine in anyway...But if a fan is locked up or dragging yeah I can see it causes more noise and reducing MPG's slightly but as for needing to switch to electric fans no... Not required these fan clutches do there job just fine...

everything i read said they could fail with either condition, free spinning or to tight even with good bearings. mine is oe also, just doesnt spin as frre as yours. i cna still hear it cut on and off. so if we are not over heating or cooling I cnat see a problem with either.maybe this had something to do with the wild swings in my coolant a while back i dont know. i do know it seemed to cut on and of just like it always has. since the haul over the mountain my wild swings in temp have stopped:hyper:. i get about a 6* or 7* swing now. fan still works the same as always. no electric for me.

I hate to revive an old tread but I can't hold this info.Apparently the fan hub assembly has a substance that when energized with pulsed electricity it will change the viscus of the fluid causing the fan to fluidly lock-up to the hub. The ambient temperature plays a part in how much free rotation will a cure. Semi's rely on air pressure to activate the clutch fan. a little less harmful on 2x4's until it in gauges, then run!

its a thermally reactive viscous fluid couplercolder-thinnerhotter-thicker

LOL... I just wanted to be like Mikey. He stuck a stick in and stopped his.. It's not locked up but it is really tight. This was replaced in the last 4 months. Wish I hadn't throw the old one away.:banghead: Wondering if in the cold weather I could take it off and see if my mileage came back up. Any thoughts on removing the fan in cold weather??

I had a 77 Newport with a 440 back when I was bullet proof. Saw the fan spin excessively and the car also ran hot. So while running I grabbed the fan. It stopped in my hands and I could actaully spin it opposite of the engine. This happened again but in our 89 Ramcharger. Actually it overheated while idling. Getting older my built in armor plating fades and did not use my bare hands to test the fan this time around. It was bad and I could keep it from spinning with the engine running.