I have a 2001 blazer 4dr 4.3l 2wd. I cant seem to know how to take off the fan, I took off the 4 screws but no luck... I tried searching on yahoo and also had no luck. Im stuck and dont know what to do. The hood is currently open so if anyone were to guide me through it i would gladly appriciate it... THNX in advance.

 

Here is a reply cage47 gave to the same problem a couple of months ago:

You only need a large crescent wrench. One that will fit on the shaft. It has a 6-sided shaft (like a bolt head) find a way to stabalize your water pump pully. You can do this by wedging a long screwdriver or tire tool in the nuts that hold the pully onto the pump itself. Then the fan is a reverse thread. When looking at it from teh front of the truck push the wrench over the top from passenger side to driver side. That will loosen it up and simply unscrew it from the water pump.

Hope it helps you.

 

I tried the crescent wrench deal. That didn't work for me, so I went to the local Autozone and rented their Ford fan clutch tool. It took about 30 seconds once I got that. I did end up crossthreading the water pump when I went to put it back on, though. So now I have a new wp and fan clutch. I think I even replaced the alternator and tensioner while I had the belt off.

 

I had that same problem with my 2000 blazer 4x4 LT. The crescent wench starting slipping around the big nut, went to autozone (where I got the clucth fan from) and rented both the 5 piece and Ford one. the 5 piece wrench was to big and the ford one was smaller but not tight snug sung enough so switch over to a pipe wench with a screw driver between the pully nuts and a very large breaker bar. I pull like hell heard something snap (thought it was the screw driver, for it did go flying) so I thought crap what now, my neigbor up the street got home (A master Mech) and I went and got him, he brought with him a pair of channel locks from hell, I have never seen a pair that big, he open them up large enough to go around the water pump pully (It was that big and room to open more) told me to holed them tight took a hammer and a screw drive and was about to hit the pipe wrench and said hey, its already loose and spun it off..hahahhaha..I guess when I pull on the breaker bar and screw drive went flying is because I broke the nut loose (never look to check it, duh). I then proceed to strip the new one as you did, took it back to autozone (life time warrantl) and pick up another one and put on very carefully..hahahahaha..Clutch fan now kicks at about 200 degree, no more 235 range...and what a lesson...

 

thanks for the tips. i used the cresent tool & along with the hammer and it came off with a BIG BANG lol.

 

I used a pipe wrench with a long pipe slid on the end. My fan clutch came off counterclockwise. To stop the pulley, I used a perforated metal strap under one bolt on the pulley and one bolt on the alternator, which I read in a post on this forum.(Sorry, I don't remember where.) Great trick, though. A lot of pulling, and it popped loose. Just be careful with the new one. It's easy to cross-thread.