Hey Ferdman, no worries...

I have got the viscous fan coupling off, I wondered about how to keep the pulley still and found that a 4mm Allen (Hex) key did the job wonderfully. I am now eagerly waiting for the replacement tensioner to be delivered tomorrow. Then with a fair wind I will get this job finished!

Daz

Well job done :D!!

If anyone has ever wondered... it is possible to get the adjuster rod and the bracket off the back of the tensioner casting without removing the whole tensioner. I decided to do this as I was having trouble getting the fan pulley off (corroded on) so took a shortcut. The tensioner looks to be in good condition so I am happy with it's state. So it is all done, back together and as good as new.

I am a happy man!

More importantly, my wife is happy to have her car back :)

Thanks for your help all!

Daz

Yeah, that little adjuster rod and it's threaded "head" are subject to stripping the threads. It has left-hand threads (my '91 does anyway) and the more you tighten it, the more the rod moves out the bottom of the threaded head.
When it get down to 3-4 threads then it can strip.
What I did, I saved my old stripped "head" and use it as a comparison to see how many threads I have still engaged on the new one. Just stick a small screwdriver in the one on the car, and compare the depth of the rod to the old one on the bench. Seems we all have the same issues when working on these.

DG