Hayden Fan Clutch

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 11:44 pm

We have a new Hayden fan clutch installed along with a new OEM thermostat. The temp gauge has received the reflash, so it now reads one tick to the left of vertical under normal driving. My wife just got back from towing her 4000 lb horse trailer to and from Nashville and averaged 18 mpg on the return trip.

We have the GDE tow tune, so she was able to stay in 4rth climbing long hills at 65, keeping the motor from bogging down. She indicated that under those conditions with the AC on and ambient in the mid-80s, she saw the gauge go straight up, but never beyond that. I told her to expect quite a roar when the fan clutch engages, but she never heard it.

Based on the previous info and your experience with the Hayden, roughly where on our gauge would you expect the Hayden fan clutch to engage?

Thanks!

DOC

arengant · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 1:42 am

I went to 3/4 on the gauge when driving and didn't hear the roar with my Hayden, I think you might only be able to hear it at low speeds or even parked (in my experience that is all I have heard it)

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 7:05 am

So, do you believe yours was engaged when you saw your gauge at the 3/4 mark? (As in you opened the hood and confirmed?)

Thanks,

DOC

flash7210 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 9:35 am

DOC4444 wrote:

We have a new Hayden fan clutch installed along with a new OEM thermostat. The temp gauge has received the reflash, so it now reads one tick to the left of vertical under normal driving. My wife just got back from towing her 4000 lb horse trailer to and from Nashville and averaged 18 mpg on the return trip.

We have the GDE tow tune, so she was able to stay in 4rth climbing long hills at 65, keeping the motor from bogging down. She indicated that under those conditions with the AC on and ambient in the mid-80s, she saw the gauge go straight up, but never beyond that. I told her to expect quite a roar when the fan clutch engages, but she never heard it.

Based on the previous info and your experience with the Hayden, roughly where on our gauge would you expect the Hayden fan clutch to engage?

Thanks!

DOC

Stay in 4th gear at 65 mph? How is that possible? Is that a feature of the GDE TCM tune?

Its entirely possible that the engine never got hot enough for the fan clutch to engage.
With the A/C on, the electric fan would also have been running at full speed. Maybe that was
enough to keep it cool.

Another possibility is that your wife was jammin out with the music turned up and couldn't hear
anything else. :wink:

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 10:00 am

The Hayden clutch engages, per Hayden, ca. 170F based on the air temp off the radiator (actually the temp of the air flow thru everything in front of the mechanical fan) and Hayden says that's supposed to be ca. 30F below actual coolant temp. I've never attempted to measure temps but that implies the Hayden would come on at about 200F which is substantially cooler than the factory clutch IIRC.

I don't know how much mechanical fan noise you would hear at highway speed, keeping in mind that the fan clutch when disengaged provides enough mechanical resistance so that the fan is always spinning a bit. I can tell you from running Kap's mechanical fan (no clutch so on all the time) that you can barely hear the fan whine at highway speed and might not notice it unless you knew what noise to listen for. I can also tell you that I never heard the fan whine on stoutdog's 06 with Kap's tstat mod an a 195F tstat pulling a trailer cross county although the temp gauge never got past near vertical.

Bottom line is I'm not convinced that there is a very audible roar when/if the mechanical fan engages at highway speed. Now around town it's another matter. I could sure hear the fixed fan whine/roar between 1500 and 2000 rpm around town (say 35-45 mph) where I could hardly hear it at the same rpms running 55-65 mph on the highway.

arengant · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 2:38 pm

DOC4444 wrote:

So, do you believe yours was engaged when you saw your gauge at the 3/4 mark? (As in you opened the hood and confirmed?)

Thanks,

DOC

I did NOT stop and open it during my highway trip, I am just assuming it would have turned on because the temp spiked, then dropped a few times. When I installed it a few months before, I did let it get hot enough and heard it turn on when I was parked in my garage. It was load, for sure, but knowing how much wind noise there is on the highway I doubt I would have heard it.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 8:26 pm

Are you still running the Stock Steel Blade fan or the 11 blade that moves more AIR?
To get the full benefit out of the Hayden Severe Duty fan clutch, you need the 11 blade fan.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 9:47 pm

1. Thanks for your replies

2. I guess no one really knows what point on the coolant gauge the Hayden typically engages.

3. Yes. the GDE TCM "tow tune" holds 4rth up to 70 mph. Keith can adjust this a bit to your taste. (No news on the "new wrinkle" to allow direct downshifts to 4rth that Keith is now working on. Currently, if you are in 5th, you slow to 60 and want 4rth, you have to briefly go down to 3rd, then back up to 4rth, either by "kickdown" or the "OD off" button.

4. Have nylon "gas" fan installed, as noted in sig.

Thanks as always,

DOC

naturist · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 7:52 am

I have (now) a Hayden fan clutch installed. Before I put it on, I heard the stock fan clutch engage a couple times, first while towing a 5,000 lb full height (ie, 8' x 8') TT up a very steep slope at about 20 mph in 100+ degree heat. It kicked in when the temp gauge was just below the top, and yes, it was very loud and quite unmistakable. So I noted it also once or twice at highway speeds immediately after having it replaced with an OEM unit, when the gauge hit about 3/4. That didn't last long, however, as the OEM clutch wore out in a hurry -- less than 15,000 miles later it wouldn't engage until the gauge was up almost to "H" again.

That was when I replaced the clutch with the Hayden one. It seems to engage (and yes, I can hear it, although at highway speed it competes with a lot of other noise and is easy to miss) when the gauge hits in the 5/8 to 3/4 range.

From the sounds of it, the OP's wife never got hot enough to engage the fan. Which is good, actually. And for what it is worth, for those watching the temp gauge climb, I can confirm that the #1 thing you can do to keep things cool is to keep the revs up, especially when the fan clutch does kick in. You want both water and air moving as much as possible, and it's revs that do that. 4th gear, and even 3rd gear are your friends when things get hot while dragging a load up a hill.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 8:50 am

Naturist,

Thanks for noting my wife was not hot enough. Have to do something about that........

Best Wishes,

DOC

naturist · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2013 9:03 am

ROFL, Doc. There ARE times when you don't want your wife hot. I'm in no position to comment on how hot she might be at "other" times.

Hayden Fan Clutch

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