thanks fellas for direction on pulling fan. was not sure if I should try to remove the plastic fan from its hub while on the tractor or remove the shaft and get to the hub after removing from the tractor.
electric fan sounds intriguing. are you suggesting this option because of cost or better cooling or both?
It would be nice to be able to just pull the fan off without undoing all the belts but looks like it is just knuckle busting on your machine...
As for Electric... Upside is a couple of things... It reduces drag on your engine, so it is a popular method in cars trying to eek out every little drop of performance. You can also build one that reverses, and blow your radiator out a bit and prolong that step in maintenance if you mow or work in dusty conditions.
Generally it will be better cooling, as it should be thermostatically controlled, and it puts the fan up nice and close to the radiator.
Downside is that it involves wiring, and it won't be stock wiring. At $80 I would be hard pressed to rationalize an electric if I did not work in severe dusty weather..
Downside is that as you self wired, chances of failure are higher, and if you run an electric with a thermostat you might question wether it is running or not.
You can get a junkyard fan, that will save you some cash. Again, reliability becomes and issue.
Just FYI, the fan shroud is VERY important. If you go electric, make sure you have one. If you replace this fan, make sure you put the shroud back on.
One last note, when you loosen the belts and take the fan shaft off, the pulley will probably fall off as well. That is normal. I am not sure how much time you have on your machine or what year it is, but as you are there you might want to look at your fan belt and make sure it is up to snuff... Looks fine in the pictures but...
