Thomw
New LVC Member
Just finished the electric fan conversion on my '01 Lincoln LS V6. I ran it with the pump looped for about a week until it froze up and spun the pulley. I couldn't bring myself to fork out $175.00 (Ebay) for, what in essence, is an idler pulley. The cheap and, hopefully, reliable solution was to gut the frozen pump and install an idler pulley in place of the pump shaft.
Here's a list of off the shelf parts:
Gates 38009 Idler Pulley (I went with a 3” thinking it would decrease the torque on the idler bolt)
4-1/2” x 5/8” bolt (went with that length to get enough shoulder for the pulley and and pump bearing)
(11) 5/8” flat washers
(3) 5/8” nuts
13/16” x 107-1/8” belt (Napa by Gates Micro-V AT 25/061066)
I started out by removing the large rear snap ring and pretty much just dumped out the guts of the pump. There was a second, small snap ring, more parts and that released the pump shaft to pull out from the front. I left the original (frozen) bearing in place. I mounted a flat washer that fit nicely against the bearing of the idler pulley. I purchased everything from Napa and made sure their washers would seat okay. I went to Home Depot later that day and their washers would not have worked: too large of diameter. Next the idler pulley was placed on the bolt with four more washers between the pulley and pump bearing (face of the pump). Four worked for me, but these are not precision parts, so the idea is to place the pulley the same distance from the pump as the original. YMMV.
The bolt was placed into the pump and I added enough washers to cover the shoulder of the bolt, plus a couple more. I installed a 5/8” nut and tightened it with a 13/16” deep socket on a 1/2” drive and a 13/16 box end. Two grunts worth. Plenty tight, but not insanely tight. I've sheared off or stripped more bolts than I care to remember. I added half a dozen more washers to finish off the end of the bolt with a nut just for good measure. I would like to have double nutted the first nut, but obviously couldn't bet a wrench in the pump body. If I was to do it again, I might use a longer bolt to at least get a double nut in
there somewhere but this is flush with the back of the pump. The bolt could also be cut and the original back and snap ring could be reinstalled.
It took two tries on the belt to get the right length. The size up from the 107-1/8 was too long. The 107-1/8” took a lot of torque on the tensioner, but it worked. One 3/8” longer may have been better. I used a large Crescent wrench on the tensioner with a cheater bar and prayed it didn't slip and shear off the infamous small nipple on the overpriced/overengineered radiator hose assembly. I've replaced that hose twice because of the broken nipple.
Total outlay was just under $75.00 and took about 5 hours including shopping.
Here's a list of off the shelf parts:
Gates 38009 Idler Pulley (I went with a 3” thinking it would decrease the torque on the idler bolt)
4-1/2” x 5/8” bolt (went with that length to get enough shoulder for the pulley and and pump bearing)
(11) 5/8” flat washers
(3) 5/8” nuts
13/16” x 107-1/8” belt (Napa by Gates Micro-V AT 25/061066)
I started out by removing the large rear snap ring and pretty much just dumped out the guts of the pump. There was a second, small snap ring, more parts and that released the pump shaft to pull out from the front. I left the original (frozen) bearing in place. I mounted a flat washer that fit nicely against the bearing of the idler pulley. I purchased everything from Napa and made sure their washers would seat okay. I went to Home Depot later that day and their washers would not have worked: too large of diameter. Next the idler pulley was placed on the bolt with four more washers between the pulley and pump bearing (face of the pump). Four worked for me, but these are not precision parts, so the idea is to place the pulley the same distance from the pump as the original. YMMV.
The bolt was placed into the pump and I added enough washers to cover the shoulder of the bolt, plus a couple more. I installed a 5/8” nut and tightened it with a 13/16” deep socket on a 1/2” drive and a 13/16 box end. Two grunts worth. Plenty tight, but not insanely tight. I've sheared off or stripped more bolts than I care to remember. I added half a dozen more washers to finish off the end of the bolt with a nut just for good measure. I would like to have double nutted the first nut, but obviously couldn't bet a wrench in the pump body. If I was to do it again, I might use a longer bolt to at least get a double nut in
there somewhere but this is flush with the back of the pump. The bolt could also be cut and the original back and snap ring could be reinstalled.
It took two tries on the belt to get the right length. The size up from the 107-1/8 was too long. The 107-1/8” took a lot of torque on the tensioner, but it worked. One 3/8” longer may have been better. I used a large Crescent wrench on the tensioner with a cheater bar and prayed it didn't slip and shear off the infamous small nipple on the overpriced/overengineered radiator hose assembly. I've replaced that hose twice because of the broken nipple.
Total outlay was just under $75.00 and took about 5 hours including shopping.
