Fan Clutch Boosts Horsepower On Deere 8440

Fan Clutch Boosts Horsepower On Deere 8440 TRACTORS Modifications 24-5-40 When Mitch Vanness rebuilt the water pump on his Deere 8440 last spring, he decided to try installing a clutch kit on the engine's direct-drive cooling fan. "I knew there was a clutch for the fan on other models, so I bought one of those and adapted it to fit my tractor," says the Latimer, Iowa farmer. "Originally, the fan bolted directly to the water pump drive pulley on the engine," Vanness says. "It didn't take much to make the clutch work on this tractor. I had to drill out the holes in the clutch where the fan mounted, and I had to put some studs in the pulley to mount the fan clutch on the pulley. After that, it was just a simple matter of putting it back together. I also replaced the old fan with a newer style fan." When he had it all back together, the new fan stuck out too far to fit the fan shroud. The shroud is in two pieces. He put the front piece inside the back piece, which allowed him to slide the front piece forward enough to go around the fan. "The engine warms up quicker now with the fan off and there's less wear and tear on the fan belt, even when it's running," he says. He says there's less fan noise, too. But the best part is that the change increased both available horsepower and overall fuel economy. "Normally, power output from this tractor has been right at 210 pto hp," he says. "I checked it on a dynamometer after adding the clutch and found it was right at 235 hp." Besides farming, Vanness also runs a machinery repair service. The clutch he modified was designed for 50 series and newer Deere tractors. Now that he's successfully added the fan clutch to his 8440, he says he'd be willing to make the modifications for others. "I'll be working on a conversion for 4640, 4840 and 8640 models," he says. "It would be best to do this conversion while rebuilding the water pump," he says. "I think I could probably rebuild the water pump and install the fan clutch and new fan for under $700." A lockout kit, which keeps the fan running full time, is also available for tractors with fan clutches installed. Vanness says these are only helpful in extreme conditions, though, and shouldn't be needed if the radiator is kept clean and the cooling system is working properly. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mitch Vanness, Vanness Repair, 1724 Finch Avenue, Latimer, Iowa 50452 (ph 641 579-6127; E-mail: mdvanness@fiai.net).

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