Has anyone found a suitable replacement for the discontinued fan clutch for the 1992-97 460 powered F53? The original ford part, Part number F2TZ-8A616-B is discontinued and superseded by AU2Z-8A616-P, which is a truck clutch and will not work properly in a motorhome. My original clutch works but I believe it has become weak; It will not engage at highway speeds until the temperature has nearly reached the redline.
I tried the Hayden severe duty 2799 which some guys have recommended, but on a hot day it runs nearly constantly, and over cools the system to the point where the thermostat is closing, not to mention the noise was unbearable. Anyone found anything that works properly in this application? This is the last little hurtle I have with my RV and I can finally stop working on it and enjoy it! Thanks everyone.
2005 Gulf Stream Conquest 31ft
BigFoot Levelers,TST in tire TPMS,Bilstein Shocks,Trans temp guage,Lowrace iWAY
I’m guessing your real problem is in the cooling system. When was the last time the fluid was changed, or even flushed. Also check your transmission fluid.
I had an issue with it running all the way at the high end of the temp scale constantly, and the new radiator cured that problem but I'm still concerned that the fan may not be engaging properly. It will not engage during normal driving until the temp goes past the L in Normal. Occasionally it will engage at a traffic light but quickly We plan on taking the rig on many out of state trips, possibly with a toad, and I want to be absolutely sure the cooling system is at 100%.
From what I read, the clutches used on the F53 from 92-97 engage at around 200 degrees air temp. The Hayden severe duty that I tried engages at around 170 degrees air temp. It ran almost constantly.
The factory clutch may be fine, but I would think it should come on long before it's getting that hot.
Otherwise maybe you need less than the severe duty Hayden clutch. Is there a normal or heavy duty?
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675w Solar pictures back up
When working properly, the system will function fine at temps up to 212F. If it regularly gets over that, then is the time to worry.
Chum lee
Price is right and it has worked correctly for the last 40,000 miles. I hear my fan clutch engage and disengage all the time and my temp gauge doesn't move unless the engine overheats.
To change the clutch, work through the dog house. Do not remove the belts or fan shroud.
Remove the two hoses going to the throttle body, for room to work.
Loosen the 4 bolt holding the fan to the clutch but don't remove them. Remove the 4 bolts holding the clutch to the water pump. Slide the whole assembly into the fan shroud, carefully. Remove the 4 bolts you previously loosened. Remove the clutch. Find a 1" stud and insert it in one of the water pump bolt holes. This will help you align the clutch holes to the water pump holes. Put it back together.
Richard
95 Bounder 32H F53 460
2013 CRV Toad
2 Segways in Toad
First brake job
1941 Hudson
Richard, thanks for the info. The Murray 2799 is a reboxed Hayden 2799, which I have already tried. It ran nearly constantly and the thermostat was in a tug of war with it trying to keep the engine temp up. I'm assuming yours does not operate this way? Also, before your OEM one failed, when did it kick on and off, at what temp scale, and how did it behave when it did fail?
Rocket9k wrote:
Now that I have replaced the plugged radiator it will run pretty cool between 190-210. The only time I can get it higher than that is if I'm in 3rd gear climbing an incline or out of overdrive going down the highway at 65-70. I have an electric fan mounted on the front of my condenser which helps slightly. It pretty much just keeps A/C temps down.
Richard, thanks for the info. The Murray 2799 is a reboxed Hayden 2799, which I have already tried. It ran nearly constantly and the thermostat was in a tug of war with it trying to keep the engine temp up. I'm assuming yours does not operate this way? Also, before your OEM one failed, when did it kick on and off, at what temp scale, and how did it behave when it did fail?
Now that I have replaced the plugged radiator it will run pretty cool between 190-210. The only time I can get it higher than that is if I'm in 3rd gear climbing an incline or out of overdrive going down the highway at 65-70. I have an electric fan mounted on the front of my condenser which helps slightly. It pretty much just keeps A/C temps down.
Richard, thanks for the info. The Murray 2799 is a reboxed Hayden 2799, which I have already tried. It ran nearly constantly and the thermostat was in a tug of war with it trying to keep the engine temp up. I'm assuming yours does not operate this way? Also, before your OEM one failed, when did it kick on and off, at what temp scale, and how did it behave when it did fail?
My temp gauge is not calibrated in numbers. It just says normal across the top of the gauge. The needle starts at the far left when cold and advances to the "O" when it reaches normal operating temperature (197°). If all is working correctly the fan cuts in and out and the gauge needle never moves. When my OEM clutch failed, it just quit engaging. I pulled into a rest stop, unhooked the car and found a parts house (Oreilly). Change the clutch in the rest stop.
I have the original radiator core with replacement brass end tanks. The OEM radiator core has 20 fins per inch. Most replacement radiators only have 15 fins per inch and will not radiate enough concentrated heat to operate the fan clutch properly. When I had the 15 fins per inch replacement radiator in my MH the temp gauge would rise to what I considered to be about 230-240 before the fan clutch would kick in. With the OEM core the gauge doesn't move and the clutch kicks in and out as it should.
I can run up the side of the Rocky Mountains in the middle of summer, moving 20,500 lbs with my 460/528 stroker engine and not have any heat problem. Ford got it right.
* This post was edited 08/29/20 07:53pm by RLS7201 *
Rocket9k wrote:
Thanks everyone for all the info. I still need to check and probably change the transmission fluid. Last I checked it will still clear and smelled correct but i'm sure it's due for a change. RLS7201, your name has come up a bunch of times in the forum posts i've skimmed on this topic. I came across a post you did about making your fan clutch adjustable, but it's older and the pictures are gone. I'd like to see that if you still have the pictures? I'm thinking I can tweak mine to get it where I want it.
Thanks everyone for all the info. I still need to check and probably change the transmission fluid. Last I checked it will still clear and smelled correct but i'm sure it's due for a change. RLS7201, your name has come up a bunch of times in the forum posts i've skimmed on this topic. I came across a post you did about making your fan clutch adjustable, but it's older and the pictures are gone. I'd like to see that if you still have the pictures? I'm thinking I can tweak mine to get it where I want it.
Here is the pic. Cut slots in the two aluminum posts. Epoxy a piece of 1 1/2" EMT in the slots cut slots for the spring.
You won't like it. No mater how you adjust it, it will come on too soon or too late. Did you check your radiator to see how many fins per inch it has? As seen in the pic, adjust spring end CC to engage sooner.
![[image]](http://[URL=https://i.imgur.com/qZozaNk.jpg )
![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/m3zZPvb.png)
Click For Full-Size Image.]Modified fan clutchRichard
To answer your radiator question, I have an all aluminum replacement from superior cooling, as well as a complete banks system. It seems to do the job very well. The temp gauge stays between the O and M on the ford NORMAL gauge (190-210 according to my IR gun) which is well within acceptable temperature range for the trusty 460. If I am out of overdrive in 3rd gear going down the highway at 65-70 the temp will goto A, WITH the dash A/C on. I am sure if i'm climbing with a load on it will go beyond that, which is why I want to be sure my fan is working properly. Where exactly did/does your factory fan clutch kick on if I may ask, on your \__NORMAL___/ gauge?
I may have no problem whatsoever, but I would like to be 100% confident that I do not before I venture out on long runs.
I took the motorhome for a drive yesterday and ran it hard to see how hot I could get it before the fan kicked on. It never happened, not even sitting at light, which it would always do for a few seconds after sitting still. I took it off last week to clean the spring and make sure the bearings were still tight, as well as test it with a heat gun. I must have let the rest of the smoke out, who knows.
I am going to search for the original Ford part# F2TZ 8A616-B (which is discontinued) or tweak my Hayden so that it does not run continuously. I will post here again when it's all resolved so hopefully nobody else with one of these old rigs will have to chase their tail like I did!
Rocket9k wrote:
Richard, it looks like you were moving the spring around considerably on that thing. Is that a Hayden 2799? From what I understand, 1/8" gives you approximately 10 degrees difference in engagement temperature. Did you find you had it move it more to get a change? It's going to be 84 degrees here tomorrow, so I may go wring its neck a bit and see how it does.
To answer your radiator question, I have an all aluminum replacement from superior cooling, as well as a complete banks system. It seems to do the job very well. The temp gauge stays between the O and M on the ford NORMAL gauge (190-210 according to my IR gun) which is well within acceptable temperature range for the trusty 460. If I am out of overdrive in 3rd gear going down the highway at 65-70 the temp will goto A, WITH the dash A/C on. I am sure if i'm climbing with a load on it will go beyond that, which is why I want to be sure my fan is working properly. Where exactly did/does your factory fan clutch kick on if I may ask, on your \__NORMAL___/ gauge?
I may have no problem whatsoever, but I would like to be 100% confident that I do not before I venture out on long runs.
Richard, it looks like you were moving the spring around considerably on that thing. Is that a Hayden 2799? From what I understand, 1/8" gives you approximately 10 degrees difference in engagement temperature. Did you find you had it move it more to get a change? It's going to be 84 degrees here tomorrow, so I may go wring its neck a bit and see how it does.
To answer your radiator question, I have an all aluminum replacement from superior cooling, as well as a complete banks system. It seems to do the job very well. The temp gauge stays between the O and M on the ford NORMAL gauge (190-210 according to my IR gun) which is well within acceptable temperature range for the trusty 460. If I am out of overdrive in 3rd gear going down the highway at 65-70 the temp will goto A, WITH the dash A/C on. I am sure if i'm climbing with a load on it will go beyond that, which is why I want to be sure my fan is working properly. Where exactly did/does your factory fan clutch kick on if I may ask, on your \__NORMAL___/ gauge?
I may have no problem whatsoever, but I would like to be 100% confident that I do not before I venture out on long runs.
Once up to temperature my gauge never moves off the "O" unless the the engine overheats. The clutch kicks in and out and the gauge don't move. Throughout the years of being on various RV forums, I typically see 460 issues such as yours, with replacement radiators. Do what you must.
Richard
RLS7201 wrote:
Once up to temperature my gauge never moves off the "O" unless the the engine overheats. The clutch kicks in and out and the gauge don't move. Throughout the years of being on various RV forums, I typically see 460 issues such as yours, with replacement radiators. Do what you must.
Richard
Once up to temperature my gauge never moves off the "O" unless the the engine overheats. The clutch kicks in and out and the gauge don't move. Throughout the years of being on various RV forums, I typically see 460 issues such as yours, with replacement radiators. Do what you must.
Richard
I have been busy the last few weeks so haven't had a chance to work on the RV until this past weekend. Richard I did read your cautions about the fin per inch count of replacement radiators. I did my due diligence researching the Superior Cooling SC-3TZ8005C that I used in my rig for this very reason. I did raise this question and was assured by them that it was more than up to the job. It does not have the fin density of the original, but the same amount of rows with wider tubes. I am no radiator expert so after scouring the forums and speaking to others here who have used it (as well as being crunched for time) I spent the money and so far it works great.
I was able to locate my problem this past weekend, but just to recap:
The fan clutch operation was suspect from the beginning, but seeing as I had a leaking radiator and the previous owner admitting to using stop leak to stop the tanks from leaking, I went for it first. After replacement it ran much cooler, but the fan operation was the same, It would kick on sometimes at stop lights, was slow to engage at speed (if at all) and when it did come on it was very late, outside of the NORMAL range. I then installed the Hayden 2799 which did a great job, but too great of a job. It ran quite often and the noise wasn't very pleasant, especially at highway speeds. I cleaned up the face of the original clutch, as it was lightly coated with a sticky substance and dust and grime, and reinstalled. The problem got worse, I couldn't hear it engage at all at any traffic light or city driving.
I managed to locate a new old stock fan clutch, part #F2TZ-8A616-B last week on the auction site. I pulled the doghouse cover (for what seemed like the 100th time this year
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/doh.gif "doh")
) and pulled the original clutch out. I worked it back and forth by hand and it felt normal, but as I kept working it by hand it got easier and easier until it would just free wheel in my hand, with zero resistance. I let it sit for a minute, it returned to normal and I was able to do it again. No good. I would have never caught this the first time around as it felt good initially so I didn't read any further into it. I installed the new factory clutch and took her for a hard test drive. She ran nice and cool, Never even thought about getting out of the NORMAL range on the gauge and I could hear the fan cycle on and off briefly in stop and go traffic.
I'm pretty fortunate to have made it all the miles I did in the dead of summer, Through the mountains etc. with a fan that kind of worked. I believe it just weeped enough of its silicone out of the front to no longer engage properly.
I hope this bit of info will help someone else out in the future. I know there's still plenty of us running these old 460 rigs, so hopefully this will save someone some hair pulling. Now maybe I can enjoy her for the rest of the year instead of wrenching!
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/biggrin.gif "biggrin")
Thanks all!