Electric fan conversion

[ProStarPony]

I am interested in this mod.. looked around and didnt really see anything. my fan clutch is randomly noisey hot or cold during medium to hard acellerations and $200 for a fan clutch is enough of a reason for me to look to mod..

Anyone got a link or done this?

[Dietoremain]

efan wouldnt cool good enough.. way too much juice used too.

[enoyes12]

I looked into this a little while ago and what I found out is that all the kits out there don't pull enough air. Stock is 10K CFM and the electrics are only 6K. They say they're good for light towing but I don't know. Voltage draw wasn't much of a problem because of the dual batteries. I'm still looking into doing this with 3 fans, 2 on the inside pulling and 1 behind the grill pushing. Air flow should be between 8K- 9K hopefully.

[Flooringit]

6.0 have electric fan

[Jarrod B]

^^.....have an electric on top of a engine fan......

[alberta 7.3]

There have been guys trying it from time to time, but most ideas get shelved do to undercooling, fabrication to make a suitable shroud, and wiring/control issues. Not to mention if you're buying scrapyard fans and they fail when you're hauling a heavy load in the summer heat, you're screwed.
So, there are 3 viable options.
1. flex-a-lite makes a electric fan/shroud kit that is a drop-in. Heard stories from people about the controllers having issues though. Also not recommended for heavy towing.
2. Suck it up, shell out $200 and replace the viscous clutch. No modding, reliable, works just like it did from the factory..
3. Step up to an electric fan clutch. An electric version of the air clutch used on over-the-road trucks. Cost $500-1000 or more if a shop would install it. All the benefits of the instant on-off to kick in only when the engine temperature needs it, and it freewheels when not locked in.

[bobcatman]

I had a friend who replaced his fan with electric fans for better cooling on his ford diesel truck, knowing that he would need extra cooling on his upcoming trip out west. On the trip while pulling his fifth wheel trailer his truck started overheating. I think he had to turn off his A/C and take it easy and stopped at a campground that night. He decided to be able to continue he would need to put the old stock fan back on. So he had a family member back home ship the fan to him there. He put it back on and was able to make it just fine the rest of the way. So I wouldn't remove the stock fan, I would just add an additional fan.

[Super Diesel]

One of the new Diesel Power magazines had a write up on Flex-a-lite's electric fan conversion for the 7.3... it looked pretty good. I'm probably going to look at doing it in the future, but I don't tow anything. Flex-a-lite themselves say not to use their fan if you plan on towing anything that makes your GVW over 18,000 lbs. (that's the truck and haul weight combined). The electric fan conversion frees up anywhere from 35 to 50 hp too! But... it's also about $700.... yeah....

[Jarrod B]

is it because the size of the fan that the electrics cant mimic? that causes the overheat issue?

[Super Diesel]

Probably... the article didn't say, but the electric fan from flex-a-lite is two smaller fans vs the one big one that comes factory. Check it out...

98-03 Ford Super Duty Diesel Electric Fan