Water pump & fan clutch tools

jaguarjoe

Original poster
Member
Nov 22, 2012
73
I changed the pump & clutch today, here are the tools that made it easy. I hope this helps, it makes the job easy:

A 12" Crescent wrench fits the 36mm nut perfectly. A 2ft piece of 2" PVC pipe makes a light but strong cheater handle for it. The Crescent is much more stable than the flimsy sheet metal wrench everyone rents out.

An Autozone 19" chain wrench with the Vise Grip handle wraps around the pump pulley and the Vise Grip tightened it up very securely. This tool is $21 and makes the job easy. I used a 2ft piece of 2-1/2" PVC to get more leverage on it.

A Harbor Freight $3 "Drill saw" made it easy to notch the shroud so I could remove it without messing with the radiator and its connections.

I farted around for about 2 hrs with that nut, but once I got the chain wrench in action it came loose in 10 minutes. I broke one of the ears on the lower radiator hose clamp and used a Dremmel to cut it in half. It took about another hour or so to finish the job.
 

meerschm

Member
Aug 26, 2012
1,079
I ended up using the autozone tool on the pulley, after opening up the pulley mounting bolts and firming them back in. a 1.2 inch breaker bar almost doubled the length, then for the fan clutch side, I used a pipe wrench and electrical service conduit.

took about three seconds after this was set up.

I look back now and think, "that wasn't so bad" since it was almost a year ago, but right after, I recall thinking, "what a pain in the rear, never want to do that again."


Congrats and kudos on a job well done and money saved.
 

jaguarjoe

Original poster
Member
Nov 22, 2012
73
Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it!

I went to AZ to rent that holder but they didn't have it. I broke one strap wrench in the process of trying to hold it.

Knowing what I know now, I'd do it again (only if I had to).

All together, parts, including shipping were $330.00- that's a 5yr pump, 5yr clutch, 5yr EPDM belt, and 2 lifetime Gates radiator hoses. Stealer was around $1200, my buddy with a repair shop was $650.00
 

Guano

Member
Jan 4, 2012
423
Just did mine AGAiN!.... Pos new pump I had to get at napa
lasted MAYBE 3 years wo/guarantee. Picked up an advance auto one
W/ lifetime. $48?...DON'T lose your receipts's with those guys :mad:)
anyway been meaning to get a chain wrench.
I had to heat the end of the nut
with oxy acy torch to break it loose this time around
(wet rag wrapped around shaft & water spray bottle at the ready)
I use my hot wrench for Everything. :thumbsup:lol
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,387
Ottawa, ON
Two other ways to get that nut off: use a zip gun on the end of the flat part of the nut to turn it in the direction to unscrew it (most popular and effective if you have it) or use a crescent wrench of proper size or a large adjustable wrench and smack the end of it with a BFH.
 

TangoBravo

Member
Dec 5, 2011
208
I used this
u8aduqym.jpg
made by Rigid. And Zip gun is generally another name for an impact gun.
 

jaguarjoe

Original poster
Member
Nov 22, 2012
73
TangoBravo said:
I used this
u8aduqym.jpg
made by Rigid. And Zip gun is generally another name for an impact gun.

My strap wrench was fabric reinforced rubber. It snapped the second time we tried it. That's when I got the locking chain wrench.
 

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