I was starting to tear things down to pull my radiator last night and when I went to remove the fan, the bolts were very loose. I probably used less than 5 lbs of force to crack them and then I was able to get them off with my fingers. At first I didn't think too much of it but after I got the fan out I wiggled the pulleys behind it and it appears that the fan holds the pulleys on?

Is this right? Seems like I was pretty close to tearing things up a little.

My Chilton manual calls for 18 ft-lbs for the bolts holding the fan to the fan clutch, and 18 ft-lbs for the nuts on the water pump pulley studs.

When I changed my water pump I put on new studs/nuts. (My old studs were loose as well..) They can be bought as a kit at the local parts store... I used two nuts on each stud first and jammed them, then used a torque wrench on the outer nut to torque the studs to the pulley boss. Hope this helps..

They don't have to be tight, they just have to stay in... ;)

Seriously, they should probably be a little tighter than that, but you don't want to tighten those little fasteners that much.

For that kind of thing, I'm a big fan of blue Loctite for some peace of mind.

For that kind of thing, I'm a big fan of blue Loctite for some peace of mind.
Yeah, I'm going to be using a bit of that when I put everything back together.

i read story not long ago on the 7.3 idi forum about a fan that came off and destroyed the radiator....

i read story not long ago on the 7.3 idi forum about a fan that came off and destroyed the radiator....

The way this looks, if the fan comes off the WP pulley comes off too....