inner fan shroud mod

[vurtle]

Here's a tip for anybody who hates their inner shroud on the 6.0. I am working on a customers truck and removing the fan belt sucks, so here's what i did.

Shroud removal -
(Note- I had already removed that the top plastic piece that was attached to the inner shroud. Use a small screw driver or 90* awl to get it off. It looks right at home in the trash can next to the EGR cooler.)
Drain coolant. Remove upper radiator hoses. Remove upper radiator brackets, rubber flap clips, battery cable clips, and shroud bolts on both shrouds. Disconnect the fan connector and remove it from inner shroud. Pull front shroud out carefully. Move the inner shroud forward and loosen fan nut. (Tip #1 - pneumatic fan removal tool will save you a lot of time. If the fan pulley moves while using the pneumatic, have someone hold the tensioner tight and try again) (Tip #2 - the fan always loosens in the same direction the fan normally rotates to pull air). On the lower radiator hose, there is a clamp that holds the radiator to the shroud. I had to cut it with some tin snips to get it out of the way. Then remove fan and inner shroud at the same time.

Next thing is to cut the inner shroud so that the top half of the shroud can be reused. I would prefer for it to be thrown in the trash, but you have to have a way to hold the fan connector. Best tool to use is a sawzall. It does not melt the plastic. And for a good finish, a little bit of emery cloth smoothes the cut pretty nice.




Once the inner fan shroud is cut, reverse procedures to install everything (throw the bottom half in the trash), just take your time and be careful not to force anything in place. The fan will naturally tighten itself and be kind to the next mechanic and put just a little bit of antiseize on the threads. I torqued the bolts for the front shroud and radiator brackets to 50 inch pounds.


Before -



After -



Now I can easily replace the belt or work on anything up front on this truck without bad mouthing the engineers as much. It took about an hour to do the fan shroud mod.

Now I get to pull the top of the motor off again to find a high pressure oil leak and it is probably going to be the branch tube. Nothing against any ford owners (ford is a really nice truck and I like this website a lot), but the more I work on these smaller trucks, the more I truly believe that ford has a bunch of moron engineers thinking that a turbo v8 is a good idea in a pickup. For the record, I am not calling engineers in general morons. I work on semis so the straight 6 makes a lot more sense to me. But there are a lot of moron engineers in that area putting cabs on top of motors also. Ford should have used a shrunk down version of the dt466. Rant over.
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[Ironmover]

So to clear any confusion, you discarded the lower section of what you hacked apart? At any rate to the best of my knoweledge the shroud is intended to help button up the front of the intake manifold to help avoid water leaks for the EGR & oil cooler circuit. I'm right there with ya on how hard it is to accomplish simple service/maintenance procedures on late model vehicles but you can't start destroying stuff. Hope this wasn't a customers vehicle that you hacked this and the airbox apart on.

[m-chan68]

Originally Posted by Ironmover

So to clear any confusion, you discarded the lower section of what you hacked apart? At any rate to the best of my knoweledge the shroud is intended to help button up the front of the intake manifold to help avoid water leaks for the EGR & oil cooler circuit. I'm right there with ya on how hard it is to accomplish simple service/maintenance procedures on late model vehicles but you can't start destroying stuff. Hope this wasn't a customers vehicle that you hacked this and the airbox apart on.

You know, it's funny. I was thinking the exact same thing reading through the first post, but I guess Ironmover beat me to it. As a Ford dealer technician since 2000, I have to admit that looking at a 6.0L under the hood when it first debutted in 2003 was extremely intimidating looking to me at that time and I'm not afraid to admit it publicly. I used to say to myself, "come hell or high water, there is NO WAY that I will ever want to go near a 6.0L with a twenty foot pole". Fast forward to 2011, and I've not only "touched" quite a few 6.0L engines, I've probably installed SEVERAL head studs on more than my share WITHOUT resorting to the type of hackery described in the post above.

I remember one fellow member even mentioning that he had taken it upon himself to remove the fan stator (which is what the proper name for that part is, by the way), in an effort to "make it easier" for me to install head studs on. My reply to him was simply, "it don't make any difference to me".

There is a reason that the fan stator is present, one that escapes my ability to fathom at the present moment. But I do not possess an engineering degree that would qualify me to perform such a said alteration that has the potential cause other issues. That said, I just posted a tip on another thread by someone requesting a helpful hint regarding belt and tensioner removal/replacement. And nowhere in the thread did I mention anything about the fan stator interfering with this task.

[rebelman20]

im sure the stator assembly is designed to direct air flow to the necessary places, and the top piece directs air to the alternator. i think you did this customer a great diservice by performing this "mod". I hope you go on a long test drive in stop and go traffic because im sure it will run hotter than usual.

[mah77]

That shroud, as much of a P.I.T.A. it is to work around, is there for a reason.

That's like me taking the spoiler off a NASCAR, to save weight.

Glad youll never lay hands on MY truck.

[PGreenSVT]

Originally Posted by m-chan68

You know, it's funny. I was thinking the exact same thing reading through the first post, but I guess Ironmover beat me to it. As a Ford dealer technician since 2000, I have to admit that looking at a 6.0L under the hood when it first debutted in 2003 was extremely intimidating looking to me at that time and I'm not afraid to admit it publicly. I used to say to myself, "come hell or high water, there is NO WAY that I will ever want to go near a 6.0L with a twenty foot pole". Fast forward to 2011, and I've not only "touched" quite a few 6.0L engines, I've probably installed SEVERAL head studs on more than my share WITHOUT resorting to the type of hackery described in the post above.

I remember one fellow member even mentioning that he had taken it upon himself to remove the fan stator (which is what the proper name for that part is, by the way), in an effort to "make it easier" for me to install head studs on. My reply to him was simply, "it don't make any difference to me".

There is a reason that the fan stator is present, one that escapes my ability to fathom at the present moment. But I do not possess an engineering degree that would qualify me to perform such a said alteration that has the potential cause other issues. That said, I just posted a tip on another thread by someone requesting a helpful hint regarding belt and tensioner removal/replacement. And nowhere in the thread did I mention anything about the fan stator interfering with this task.

Post the link up. I need to change my belt.

[m-chan68]

Originally Posted by PGreenSVT

Post the link up. I need to change my belt.

Here it is:

Need advise - Possible belt tensioner issue

The instruction I posted is very straightforward, and definitely does NOT require you to resort to the hackery posted in the first post of this thread. Hope it helps.

[Rattlesnake18]

I have one question for the OP.... Does the customer KNOW you did all these "hack mods" to their truck?

[PGreenSVT]

Thanks m-chan68. Does the tensioner have a lock type mechanism that keeps the tensioner back in a lock out position that pulling on the belt sets and releases?

[dereku]

If that was my truck you would be hearing from my lawyer and i would never go to you again.