Having decided to replace both belts and the chirping idler pulley on my SC, I've hit a problem early on - the viscous fan nut was very tight indeed, needed an overnight soak with penetrating fluid but eventually I got it turning. It losened up as it undid but not to the point it could be turned by hand when holding the pulley still. So far so good but having undone it endlessly, the nut won't fully disengage from the pulley, the viscous coupling does wobble a little but won't pull off. Turning the nut endlessly makes no difference to the amount of play. Am I missing something obvious here?

Thanks

Hope your not caught like I was once trying to remove the viscous fan on my Defender. Was at it for about an hour before copping on that it was a left hand thread.  Declan
2003 FFRR Vogue 4.4 V8
97 Defender 90 300 TDi

Luckily I'd worked that bit out before breaking out the 3' leverage bar to get it moving

Mine was a little tight to start and also had to turn many times with a spanner until it eventually turned by hand.Try a little spray and wind it back on ,then off again,if you go onto you tube there are a few videos that may tell you if you are doing anything wrong,good luck !

I fear I may have stripped the thread on either the nut or the pulley side (or both ) as although the nut is turning whilst the pulley remains still, the nut / fan assembly is not drawing away from the pulley, exposing the threaded shaft as I'd expect, it just turns continually. I can rock the fan assembly as there's a small amount of play but it won't draw / pull off. Not too sure what my next step is, I guess undoing the three pulley retaining nuts & try some 'gentle' levering of the pulley itself which in turn may release the nut / fan assembly from the inner flange...

It may actually be free now. Try giving it a little tap towards the rad, with some cardboard to protect the rad itself. Mine couldn't be turned by hand at all, even right at the end of the thread.

Well the good news is I've finally managed to remove the fan, the bad news is, as I suspected, both the nut & threaded shaft on the bracket are totally cross threaded. A new bracket is around £70 which I'll have to swallow I guess but given only the nut on the viscous fan is damaged, I wonder if anyone knows if it can be replaced - no obvious way of it separating from the viscous unit I can see.

Couple of pics of the damage:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

oooh, that's not good. At least you didn't break the pulley like I did! Do you need the fan on as some members are driving around fanless?

regards

John

^^

yes he needs the fan it's not a diseasel

I did wonder that too, at least until I manage to locate one at a reasonable cost, but no electric fan fitted on this model so the viscous fan is a must have.

None for an SC on ebay presently so I've bitten the bullet & ordered one from the US, £140 inc. shipping & import duty although no doubt a bit of a wait but that's ok. Cheapest I could find here was £175+VAT from Island 4x4.

Whilst I've got it all apart, I'll also replace the two tensioners and both idler pulleys too, it's just clicked over 90k miles, so together with the new belts, fan & fan pulley bracket / bearing, all should be well in this department in my ownership!

What started as a straightforward belt & idler pulley swap on a Saturday afternoon has grown arms & legs, strange that...

Is it a different fan clutch from a 4.4? You don't need the whole fan. You can have my old clutch with a good nut if you like - I wonder if it would be possible to reuse that side of the housing.

Thanks Mr Spock, although both petrol, they're listed with different part numbers and mine has SC printed on the part sticker too, whether the clutch unit / electrical connector (or indeed the fan for that matter) are actually any different is questionable. I decided to go all in and order a new one (albeit not genuine, which I think is Hellla in any case, the one I've ordered looks to be Behr, a decent enough brand I think) and be done with it.