WWDiesel wrote:
Good move!
A tip for removing the mechanical fan!
Once the shroud is unbolted, it can be pushed back against the engine far enough to slide a piece of protective material in place!
Slide either a piece of thick cardboard or thin sheet metal or poster board in front of the fan up against the radiator so if the fan were to happen to drop or fall forward during removal for any reason, it's metal blades will not damage the radiator...
Trust me, it can happen
Post how you like it after install. Convert your fan shroud into a two piece shroud if you have not already done so, see diagram below...
Makes life a lot easier!
Funnily enough, someone else had been in there before me and had a similar thought regarding the fan shroud - when I replaced the first fan clutch last October, the bottom half had already been notched to allow the shroud to pull up and out past the fan shaft. They even put a piece of finishing plastic in there to prevent ice, rocks, etc. from getting kicked up into the shroud.
I'll probably leave it as-is since it's done, but the two-piece method you're describing would work just as well.
And yep, I'm a believer in putting anything relatively soft and shock-absorbing between the fan and radiator when pulling these things out. I didn't do that many years ago on a Ford Capri I had, and learned the hard way what a radiator costs to replace as a result.