Thread: 300 Tdi viscous fan flange removal tool

After forking out $500 for a new 300Tdi front cover I was determined not to have to replace it again. In my case the bearing was shot and the flange broken by the previous owner. It has been in the shed for the past 6 mths.

I was tipped off by (Bazil) the other week that you can use a water pump bearing (FPS72, approx $30) only issue was you had to machine the shaft on one side down to 9/16" thick, 26-27mm long and chop off the shaft on the other side leaving about 5mm. However my flange was busted and I didn't have a solution for replacing it other than making one from scratch until I read the excellent tutorial on replacing the viscous fan bearing "300tdi Viscous Fan Bearing - SOLUTIONS" by (roverrescue) In short a flange from a EA,EB,ED Falcon is suitable as well as the bearing from the water pump (requires some machining too). I then decided to have another go at reconditioning my old timing front cover to have it ready for the next timing belt change.

When attempting to remove the flange I only managed to break the flange. This is a common problem as they are die cast.



I then headed to the wrecker and removed a water pump from an EB falcon. It took about 40minutes (in the rain!) Once removed I still had to remove the flange from the water pump, it was a little painful as I tried to use a bearing puller which only resulted in the puller being broken. There had to be an easier way. If I ever needed another flange I want to be able to remove it without having to completely remove the shroud, viscous fan and water pump etc.

This is what I came up with. Photo 2 & 3.





It's made from an old viscous fan hub bolt. I had to remove the bolt by cutting the assembly in half and removing the bearing that was pressed on it. Not too hard but a little messy with the leaking silicon.

Next I drilled a 8mm hole through the middle and tapped it with a 3/8" thread and found a high tensile bolt to suit (50mm is a good length, I only had a 35mm length bolt so shortened the fan hub bolt to increase the reach of the high tensile bolt).

Screw the viscous fan bolt onto the flange, screw in the high tensile bolt and use a 32mm spanner to stop the flange from spinning around. I used a ring spanner initially but then found it much quicker and easier to use a ratchet and socket to screw in the bolt.



This tool worked an absolute treat, I was really quite surprised at how easy it was. I used it on two other flanges which are the die cast type and they came off without breaking.



This is my first tutorial so I hope this helps.

Thanks to Bazil for his help and also to Roverrescue for his great tutorial. Now I only have to press in my bearing and press on the flange.

Thats such a great idea.
I have a dead "vicious" fan lying about so I will go knock up a flange pull myself.

You will still have the risk of breaking a flange when pressing on but at least half the risk is removed...

S