Hi all, can anyone tell me how to lube my fan, in a previous thread I was told there a re a few different methods depending on the year. I don't see a grease cup or any type of fitting.
Thanks for the help, Dave

If you have a stock fan and pulley on your '23, there is a brass set screw on the hub just behind the fan blades. Remove the set screw and fill the cavity with your lube of choice (I use chainsaw bar lube, but others use 600W rear axle lube).

Mark, Thank you, I found it, my fan was in the 6 o'clock position so I didn't see the set screw.
Just noticed that my fan belt rides towards the front of the fan pulley and appears to be partially riding off the crank pulley and the crank pulley has no guide like the upper does. Thoughts?

Dave,A straight edge will tell you what you need to know.Bud.

It's the crowning of the pulleys that holds the belt in the middle. A misaligned fan may cause a tendency to run towards the front. If it's a problem you may (carefully) bend the bracket back if it has been mistreated in the past. Worn bushings in the fan hub may also cause it to tilt slightly, check if it has excessive play?

(Message edited by Roger K on April 28, 2016)

Dave, Kenneth's tip suggests that you will find alignment problems in the pulleys. If the belt is riding off the front of the crankshaft pulley, it suggests the fan shaft is pointing a little down at the front. The cure is to take the fan and arm off the car and bend the arm up just a little.

I have done it this way. Take the fan and shaft off the arm and grab the arm in the vice, setting it at about the same angle as it was in the car. Then fit a large crescent wrench over the threaded boss which receives the fan shaft, with the wrench on the vertical, and make your bend.
This way you will keep the two holes in parallel.
Do your bends a little at a time and re-fit the fan and run it each time, until it behaves.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Are there different size spacers between the pulley and the mounting bracket? Mine looks a bit wider than the picture of Mark's above.

One more question, should the bolt on the bottom of the arm be tight to the block? Mine is a touch loose and there is some play there.
Allan, that sounds like an easy fix that I can try as well. Thank you.

That isn't a spacer, it is a cup washer that retains the felt seal that fits onto the back of the rear fan pulley bushing.

You could try adding a washer or two between the bottom of the fan arm and the block, that would space the whole fan arm and pulley more forward.

If you decide to space the arm forward, check carefully afterwards for interference or rubbing between the fan belt and the arm.

Yes, the bottom bolt should be tight - The looseness at the bottom of the arm is probably allowing the arm to tilt slightly forward, which may be the reason the fan belt is trying to run on the front part of the fan pulley.

I agree, let me try that first. If not, wouldn't adding a washer to the arm worsen my problem?

Yes, you're right, sorry - I missed the part where you said that the belt was trying to run off the front of the crank pulley. Try tightening the lower arm bolt and see if that helps things.

I put a 45 degree zerk in mine years ago and give it a shot of red and tacky every couple years. KGB

There is a reservoir just behind the fan that you fill up with oil (not grease) upon removing the plug. This reservoir can be accessed by removing the 4 screws of the fan. There is a gasket between the fan and the adjoining face of the reservoir which seals the oil inside the reservoir. The head of the shaft that the pulley revolves on is immersed in the oil in the reservoir. The shaft head has a hole drilled in the center of it which leads to a tube that goes halfway through the length of the shaft ending with another hole drilled in the side of the shaft and meeting the shaft hole, so the oil flowing through the shaft from the reservoir will empty into the the cavity between the front and rear fan bushings and make its way to the bushings of the pulley. The hole is rather small (maybe 3/32"), so, if the oil is too thick, it will not flow through the shaft and the pulley bushings will not be lubricated. I would recommend SAE 30 motor oil. If you suspect that, at some point, grease or 600W oil has been used, it will be necessary to open her up and clean out the clogged tubing, for that stuff just sits there and will not allow oil to get through to the pulley bushings where it does the most good. Jim Patrick

Here is a picture of a 1926 fan that is mounted and hangs from the the water outlet. Ignore the method of mounting and pay attention only to the pulley and shaft set up. The method of lubrication is the same as yours. Perhaps this will enable you to see why the use of an oil that flows is better than grease. Jim Patrick

Took my fan belt off so now I don't have to lube it anymore. Need to have a good radiator to do that.

Hi Dave,

Take a look at my video - I was faced with an overheating engine after my fan stopped completely!...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDnl6h3DUzk

Best regards, Mitch.

I bought a replacement permanently lubricated pulley from Lang's. It is the only non-factory component on my T. I was sick of grease all over the inside of my hood. I don't know if it was factory or not (I doubt that it was) but mine had a zerk grease fitting on it when I bought it.

I drove a T once that didn't have the correct cupped washer and felt, and the fan failed. I don't believe the part needs thick oil at all. I believe Ford calls for engine oil, which is what I have used for thousands of miles. Why change?

Mitch, you should replace the plug with a zerk fitting so that you can occasionally add grease. I have oil in my fan hub simply because it's what ford used originally. Make a little bit of a mess inside the hood but,T's are pretty messy anyway.

Stephen

When the grease cup was on the back of the shaft and as long as you kept grease in it the bushings got lubed. Maybe a little oil will work it's way out but after my last bout of grease not getting slung to the rear (dry bushing) I went back to oil.

Do not over tighten the belt, it just need to be tight enough to turn the fan with out slipping. The more tight it is the faster the bushings wear out.

"there is a brass set screw on the hub just behind the fan blades'

That's not a set screw, it's a pipe plug, 1/8"NPT thread.