If you can't get the hose off, and plan on replacing them anyway (do they look old/cracked?), then you can take a boxcutter/knife and cut the hose. Then you can get the radiator out, and itd be easy to remove the rest of the hose from there.

But if you plan on reusing the same hose, undo the clamp, slide it out of the way, and just pull and push, back and forth, on the tube to try and break taht seal. If you can't get it will your hands, a screw driver might come in handy. If it is totally stuck, use the knife and cut it out! Then replace

 

Okay thanks, that's about the plan I had but just wanted to make sure that there was nothing else I could try. The hose is in pretty good condition so I'm going to try and keep from cutting it. Wish me luck...the sad thing is that I still have a pretty long day ahead of me once I get the rad off.

 

I'll have to disagree with Colorado. You do need to take the radiator out to get the fan bolts out. For one, you will same your knuckles from getting torn up on the radiator, and secondly you will save the radiator from the bolts, wrench and knuckles from rubbing on the fins. It is just a whole lot easier to take the radiator out to get to the fan bolts.

 

I've never had to remove the radiator just to get at the fan bolts.

 

I just removed my radiator to get at the fan bolts on the way to removing the water pump. There is no way i could have gotten everything apart without removing the radiator. Besides removing the radiator was the easiest part of the job (well, except for maybe the fan shroud). I agree entirely with Glenn.

 

The radiator is out [sm=wootwoot.gif]

Thanks for everybodies help. I tried removing the fan w/o removing the radiator and there was no way. More questions will be following shortly

 

Depends on what you're working on, Glen. My '65 Stang has plenty of room between the fan and the radiator, but I can't vouch for its originality either. Come to think of it, my '65 Fairlane looks to have plenty of room, too. But, I agree that radiators are tough on knuckles, although your knuckles are probably even harder on the radiator fins.

My '71 could fit a second fan in there.


67Sally....Justa tip when you go back together. Put a little non-petroleum lube on the inside of the hoses and they will come off a little easier next time. I use a synthetic wheel bearing grease and haven't had a stuck hose in many, many years. And don't worry about 'em popping off...I run 20psi caps on my high compression engines. Just use the better hose clamps and don't get carried away with the lube (just a thin layer is all you need).

 

When I was young and knew everything, I took the fan blade off our '59 Ford to put a flex blade fan on without pulling the radiator. That took me more than twice the time as pulling the radiator first. So yeah, it can be done without removing the radiator......but why??

 

Woot. good job! Were you able to save that lower hose??

 

Colorado - I will definitely put some grease on the hoses when I put them back on. Unfortunately the PO of my car was even dumber than I am and didn't. He did a lot worse than that too though...

4reboy - I wasn't able to save the lower hose but I didn't mind too much because it wasn't in the best condition to begin with and it's not very expensive to replace.

Thanks for everyone's help on this. I came inside to eat/help family decorate the christmas tree after removing the fan and a few bolts holding the ac bracket in so I had to stop there. Took me awhile to clean up too (both myself and the garage). I have to go out with the girlfriend tomorrow and I have a soccer game so unfortunately I won't be able to get back to it until Fri. but by then I'm sure I'll be posting a couple more q's.