Difference Between AC Fan Clutch and Non-AC Fan Clutch?

[Fishtaco1969]

I have a dilemma, I have a 69 Charger RT 440 with air (all stock and original) that will be going thru an engine refresh soon. So I am looking and purchasing various parts, belts hoses, etc. When it comes to the fan clutch I am finding (Classic & Year1) have the fan clutch but for "non-AC" cars only, not for a car with AC. I didn't know there was a difference! Is there a difference? I 'm going to guess the one on there now is probably for a non-AC car as I purchased many years ago from Chief Auto Parts (now Auto Zone) in California. What are people doing today that have AC cars and need a clutch? Using the non-AC clutches? Thanks for your time and opinion. Tim

 

[turbine68rt]

From what I found the original clutch is 2658456 which is a thermal drive unit for A/C applications. Non A/C cars got the standard clutch with no thermal drive from what I've seen.

 

[rickseeman]

I think the proper way to say that is a/c cars use a thermal fan clutch. That's that spring you see on the front of the clutch. I think it locks tighter when hot for the a/c. High Performance cars use a viscous drive fan to limit the rpm's for performance, noise and safety.

 

[rickseeman]

I think the thermal clutches are readily available from auto parts stores. I can't say how close to the OEM look they are. But someone on here will chime in with that info.

 

[68BabyBlue]

I have the thermal drive clutch from Tony’s Parts in my ‘69 GTX, with factory a/c. Just drove it to Carlisle and back for the Chrysler Nationals, and it worked perfectly.

One of my buddies said he couldn’t believe how much heat it was pushing out of the engine compartment just before I shut the car down at the hotel.