3.0 Water Pump Removal

[tommyd66]

Has anyone figured out how to remove the bracket that holds the belt tightner? I can't find all the bolts that hold it on. It is the only thing I can't remove to get at the water pump.

[carrie1]

Hello,

I am having the same problem.
I have taken off everything i needed to to get to the water pump. I got all the bolts off except the one behind the belt tightener. how did you get the bracket off? Taking everything off to get to the pump was simple. There is only one thing stopping me from getting the pump off. that is the one bolt behind the bracket. I spent about 2 hours trying to fuigure out how to get to that bolt. this is very frustrating. I hope you can give me some help. I would really appreciate it.

[nhouston]

I am having the same problem removing the A/C Bracket to get the last bolt out of my water pump. I was abe to remove the fourth bolt behind the tension. I used a 1/4" socket and swivel adapter. even after taking this bolt out the backet is attached and won't come loose. Is there another hidden bolt?

[autoForumMember]

I had the same problem pulling the water pump off my 1992 ford ranger (3.0 engine). Needed to remove the bracket as it was blocking the final water pump bolt. After two weeks (working and looking off and on) it's finally off.

Yes! There are two "hidden" bolts. One behind the cable tensioner where I had to use a universal joint adapter on my socket and one on the driver side above the two bolts you can see. It too took the universal socket adapter. You must feel your way into the recesses of the bracket to find both of these bolts.

I don't usually post to these forums, but figured it was only fair since I did not find an answer to this question anywhere else on the web. Good luck!

Now wish me luck putting it all back together. (BTW... bought a new truck last week - been a very good truck up till now, but after I fix this, the Ranger will still have 160k+ miles so I think it's time to retire it)