replacing a water pump in a 1972 250
 

I'm in the middle of replacing the water pump on my new (old) 1972 250. Is there any magic required to remove the fan so that the water pump itself can be removed. So far I'm stumped.

Thanks for any tips.

Lyle

You need a full lenght 10mm open end wrench.
this is one area where tool quality makes a difference. The wrenches made in Taiwan and China are made from hardened butter instead of steel. You don't want to round off those 4 bolts.

Nice catch. In fact I had some cheap tools and did round one of those 10mm bolts off which led me to try and attack it by first (somehow) removing the fan and viscous clutch. But that has me stumped. So am I supposed to remove the fan first? Or take it all off in one big hunk?
In any case, thanks for the advice on the tools. I did stop by Lowes on the way home and bought a good set (supposedly) of USA made tools.

Lyle

I did mean the bolts on the fan. Notice I said four. If you don't want to spend about $20.00 per wrench for top quality professional wrenches like Stahlwille or Snap on, I would suggest S&K brand. They make a very good end wrench for less money. They will still be more than whatever you get at Lowes or Kame Apart, but you will be making an investment for future work. I would suggest sockets and extensions from Sears. Soak those water pump bolts with a good penetrant, not WD40, for a day or two. If you snap ome you will be looking to replace a vary expensive aluminum housing.

Good luck.

But I ran into two different sets of '4 bolts'. There were the four 10mm bolts which I originally tried (and ended up rounding one off). Then I decided to try the four bolts (13mm) holding the fan blade to the viscous clutch. My thinking was that with this assembly out of the way, I could get at the four 10mm bolts better. But I couldn't get this assembly out of the way. So that was the motivation of my original request for help.
By the way, the tools I got at Lowes were Kobalt. Any thoughts on those?
Hey: I appreciate your advice. I've never done this before.

I have no idea what Lowes sells. I gave you my suggestion for the best value in tools.

You do not need to remove the 13mm bolts. Remove the fan and clutch by removing the 4 10mm bolts. Then remove the 10mm bolts that holds the pump to the housing. That's it.

Got it. Thanks a lot for your help.

Lyle