Remove fan from generator

[Ct92404]

Hi all,
After a LONG time, I'm finally getting back on to the project of restoring/repairing a 1972 Super Beetle I bought a while back. The engine is out of the car, and I actually have a rebuilt engine that hopefully soon will be ready to be installed. I'm just working on some of the external parts. Right now I'm trying to remove the fan off the generator because I want to see what condition the original generator is and if it's worth reusing or getting rebuilt. The generator and fan are already out of the fan shroud. But the problem is that I'm having a really hard time trying to get the nut/bolt off the fan. I'm using the right size 36mm socket, but the nut is EXTREMELY tight. I can't get it off.

Is the nut a reverse thread and I'm trying to turn it the wrong way, or is it just THAT tight??

- Chris

[Glenn]

Impact gun.

If you don't have one, bring it and the socket to a shop and ask them to remove it.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

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[busdaddy]

X2, and it is RH thread.
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[Cusser]

You should be able to use a screwdriver in the generator pulley wedged against one of the generator screw heads to prevent from turning. The big 36mm nut "should" not be tight like a gland nut or rear drum nut, and it is right-hand thread, as others have posted.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[busdaddy]

Well......... if the generator is out of the shroud the fan makes a much better place to hold on, don't stick anything through the blades, a ratchet strap around the rim makes a great strap wrench to stand on the end of while you grunt and groan working on the nut.
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

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[Ct92404]

Thank you for the replies, everyone.

After I posted, I was able to find more info and yeah the bolt IS reverse threaded so I was trying to turn it the wrong way. But when I tried to turn it clockwise, I STILL can't get it to loosen! Arnold Schwarzenegger must have put that thing on. I'm going to have to take it to a shop.

Unfortunately though, I made a dumb mistake. I had already taken off the generator pulley earlier, and instead I was trying to hold the generator from turning by putting a wrench on the square end of the shaft. I stupidly didn't think the fan bolt would be on THAT tight and I thought I wouldn't be putting too much force on it. Well, in all the struggling, the wrench slipped a few times and kind of chewed up the square. I hope I didn't mess it up too much and a pulley will still go on right. Otherwise I just wasted all this time and will have to get a new generator anyway. It's not the first time I've made dumb little mistakes trying to work on this car. I've never tried restoring an old car before. I haven't actually broken anything yet (until now?), but I get in over my head sometimes!

I just don't understand why the bolt is on so tight. Normally in repair manuals they expected you to loosen the bolt by reaching around the fan shroud with a wrench! Someone must have put it on WAY too tight at some point, or over time it just worked itself on tighter? It's crazy. Not even the pulley was on that tight. Even the crankshaft pulley was a piece of cake compared to this.

[Glenn]

[bsairhead]

Take your stuff to a qualified mechanic. No, really.

[EverettB]

[Ct92404]

[Ct92404]

EverettB, it's off the car, and already out of the fan shroud. (Thankfully, in this model Beetle, the fan can fit through the hole in the shroud and the generator and fan can come off the shroud as one unit.

But I tried to use a wrench to hold the generator shaft like in your picture, and the square end got a little chewed up because the wrench slipped while I was struggling with the stupid bolt on the fan. I hope I didn't fatally mess up the generator.

My dad knows a mechanic and I'm going to take the generator/fan to him to take it off. I probably should have done that from the beginning, but I thought this was going to be simple enough to do myself, I never figured the bolt just for the fan would be THAT hard to take off. Someone must have put it on WAY too tight at some point.

[Cusser]

[Rob Combs]

I had to go to harbor freight and buy an electric impact to remove mine the first time.

Car was in pieces and I needed it running that day.

I guess if 36 lb ft is good, 360 is better right?

Some people just feel the need to impact everything together, way beyond where it was designed to be torqued.

[slayer61]

My wife, for example, has absolutely zero mechanical empathy. She has twisted off more small hardware than anyone i know "every bolt should be as tight as i can make it, right?"
_________________

[EverettB]

[Ct92404]

Sorry for the long delay in posting an update. If anyone still sees this ...

The mechanic got the fan off the generator, and apparently it was super easy with an impact drive. I wasn't there, but my dad said it just took like 2 seconds to get the bolt off.
Great. Here I was struggling and going crazy and he got it off like it was nothing...well I figured it would be easier for someone who has the right tools and actually knows what they're doing (unlike me).

Unfortunately though, with all the manhandling on the generator with a ratchet and wrench, I mangled the square end on the shaft. I had bought a new generator earlier, but I got it on eBay and it's a cheapy one. It's supposed to be the correct one, a 12 volt generator 1972 Super Beetle, but probably not the best quality. So I was having second thoughts and wanted to try to get the original generator rebuilt if it was worth it. I think I may have ruined that possibility now.

I'll post a picture of the generator, but I don't know if that is something that can be fixed

[Glenn]

[MTT3107]

[slayer61]