did anyone have any problems when installing their fans? i thought someone mentioned having a really hard time taking off the stock fan. anyways i think that i can install the fan but i am not sure about the electrical part. also how long did it take to do it?

for those of you that had them installed, how much did you pay to have it done?

the fans are due in tomorrow (crossing my fingers). thanks

<small>[ June 04, 2002, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Phatchevy ]</small>

 

My install took 2 hours or so, but I was being really careful. The wiring is relatively straightforward if you buy an install kit with relay, switch etc... I was able to wire mine in without cutting any of the factory wires and splicing.

As far as removing the stock fan... I have read several posts that say put a large adjustable wrench on the nut and tap it really hard with a hammer. I personall clamped a pair of vice grips on the waterpump pulley from the backside and loosened the nut with an adjustable wrench.

I installed LT-1 fans so i had 1 hot (from the relay) and 1 ground wire (I chose to use an existing bolt that holds a cross brace in place) going to each fan. I had 1 hot wire from the battery, 1 hot wire from the temp sensor, and 1 hot wire from the manual switch all going to the relay. I ran 1 hot wire from a 12 volt switched fuse(I chose the radio fuse) to the manual switch, then the other hot wire to the relay as mentioned above. I then ran another 12 volt switched hot wire to the temp sensor in addition to the wire going from the relay to the temp sensor. This setup allows me to let the fans kick on and off automatically (using the temp sensor) or manually using the switch I mounted in the cab. This may sound really confusing (and I may have missed a minor detail or two), but it really isn't that difficult when you stop and think about hot and grounds and exactly what you have to do to complete the circuit.

One last comment - If you follow the link in my sig and look at the installed fan pics, you can see the relay and bolt I used for a ground in the left hand corner. I have since cleaned all that up and you can't see the wire. Also, those ugly 1/2" thick plate steel brackets have been replaced with nice shiny 1/8" thick aluminum ones.
HTH

<small>[ June 04, 2002, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: RandyZ71 ]</small>

 

It took me about 4 hours to do, but I had no previous knowledge about electrical wiring. The fan actually came off pretty easy for me. I wedged a piece of pipe between the frame and fan and locked on to the nut with a crescent wrench and it came right off. The rest of the install went pretty well mainly because I got some great instructions from BigTex. He had a parts list too! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> I will try to find it and email it to you if you want. Thanks again Richard.
You can check my link to see some of my fan pictures, but don't copy my ghetto metal brackets for the top of the fans. This is a Big J ghetto original. <img border="0" alt="[jester]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_jest.gif" />
Fast4.8 has some better pics on his site.
Good luck

 

Hey, your brackets look almost as bad as my "old" ones that are in my pics <img border="0" alt="[Fluffy]" title="" src="graemlins/fluffy.gif" />

 

well do yall have the fans set up to turn on even when the truck is off? if so, is there a special part to make it do it? are yalls fans constently on or only when it reaches a certain temperature?

2-4 hours isn't bad. for me it would probably be an all niter. i'll probably break something (not sure what).

BigJ hold off on the parts list, for now anyways. thanks again for yall info.....

 

Your old setup still looks cleaner than my POS hack job. That is some think metal though. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />
The UPD looks like it fits nice in there. How you like it?

 

My fans are set up with two toggles under the dash so I can turn each on or off when I want. I like having total control of the cooling, but if I forget to turn them on, things seem to get pretty hot pretty fast in traffic. Makes me pay more attention to my gauges though.

 

yea took me about 2 hours. the fans fit really nice. right now i just have them come on when the truck is on. or when the radio is getting power. so when i turn my truck off the fans are still on until i open the door. just like the radio. someday i will hook up the thermostat and run a toggle switch.

 

I love the UPD. I did it and pulleys at the same time and throttle response is greatly improved.

My setup is pretty much like BigJ's, my manual switch operates as long as the switch is on or there is power to the radio. My temp sensor only works when the key is in the run position.