Davies Craig prides itself on being fully Australian owned and operated. The company has been an industry leader in the automotive and air conditioning cooling fan markets for over 45 years with a passion and dedication for producing truly innovative engine cooling products. Our world class Electric Water Pumps (EWP®) and Thermatic® Electric Fans are manufactured right here in Australia, catering for both the national and international markets. When it comes to our Thermatic® Fans, we recognize the superior strength and wind force (CFM) generated by our high powered electric fans. That’s why we chose to replace the factory-fitted viscous clutch fan on our Mazda BT50 (Ford Ranger) with the integrated fully reversible 16” Thermatic® Fan (part #0166).

Firstly, our engineers simply removed the one-piece grille from the BT50 to enable us to gain access to the radiator. The A/C condenser was uncoupled and swung out of the way. We drained the cooling system by removing the bottom radiator hose and retained the coolant in a container. We removed the plastic fan cowling attached to the radiator that surrounds the fan blade. We ensured the radiator was empty of coolant and then removed the radiator.

The radiator was then removed to gain access to the fan clutch hub. The centre hub nut was simply unscrewed. A special pulley holder was made in house and this was used to remove the clutch fan pulley.

We proceeded to remove the factory-fitted viscous clutch fan hub. At the same time the hub nut was replaced. You will note the factory serpentine belt was not disturbed and the original belt configuration retained to ensure the water pump could be driven correctly.

With the radiator out of the vehicle the team installed our Davies Craig 16” Thermatic® Fan (part #0166) to the rear of the factory radiator with the Universal Fan Fitting Kit (part #1000). As these fans leave the factory in a ‘pusher’ (upstream) configuration, the team removed the circlip from the front of the blade, removed and reversed the blade then replaced the blade on the shaft along with the circlip. The team reversed the 16” blade before installation to ensure a strong positive air flow is delivered with the fan positioned in the ‘puller’ (downstream) position.

The radiator was reinstalled and the top and bottom radiator hoses were secured. The cooling fluid was poured back into the cooling system. The engine was started and run up to operating temperature. Once the system cooled down the cooling system was checked and topped up with the same coolant.

The Mazda BT50 was road-tested and run up to operating temperature. On return all hose fittings and mountings etc. were checked for tightness and security.

Since the conversion the vehicle has travelled over 5000 kilometres and performed faultlessly, keeping the engine temperature in a comfortable heat range with the assistance of the Davies Craig Premium Thermatic® Switch (part 0455) installed with this fan.