viscous fan drive repair?

Why not just buy a new fan clutch from AutoZone? s

Not possible. the "nose" of the water pump is significantly larger than the hole in any available fan clutch; I've been told by at least one mfgr. that it is not possible to machine the hole larger without compromising the flange and another wouldn't return my emails. There is a non-thermostatic replacement available, but I'm not sure what the point of that is.

nate

What about just having the nose on the pump turned down a size....

I know that Jeep has the same issue. Some years of waterpumps have a different sized nose to fit different fans.

Mike

Try this fellow, he doesn't specifically list Stude but might be able to fix you up:

Is an electric fan out of the question?

-phaeton

Not entirely, but they ain't cheap, at least for ones that are rated for cooling engines of this size/power.

nate

I have a question. Have you ever driven a vehicle with a hydro fan that locked up?

The ones I've driven felt like they were pulling a trailer above 2500 rpm or so. Those fans, with those acutely pitched blades, really don't wanna turn above 2000 rpm or so, and some are prone to failure (blade seperation, etc) if they do for prolonged periods...also I'd imagine it's gotta put a large amount of traction pulling outward against the pump bearing...don't know if that would reduce it's life or not, but seems like it could...

I just realized, you were probably meaning in comparison to a solid fan that was made to run engine speed, sorry.

I like the spacer idea, or turning the pump shaft down....

It's a thought, and one that actually occurred to me, but it kinda gets rid of the ability to buy a water pump at the parts store in an emergency. Yes, you can still get Stude water pumps at Autozone, amazingly enough.

nate

Brilliant! I knew there had to be something like that available. I've dropped him a message and if he can do it I'll tell my Stude-loving buddies to stop throwing out their old busted fan clutches.

thanks,

Nate

(whose Googling skillz are apparently inferior to John's.)

I have a foggy memory of an article in either 'Cars and Parts' or 'Antique Automobile Restorer' from about 10 years ago where they did a feature on a little shop that rebuilds viscous clutches.

Yes, I know that's not a real help... but there is at least HOPE. :-p

From the old Dick Datson days, several people reported that there was a late seventies Cadillac that had the large hole like the Stude only it was about .005" too small. Never followed up on it myself.

I know what you're talking about; I think I tried to get one of those and found that the Caddy part was NLA (at least through the aftermarket) as well.

nate