So I read this thread (http://www.4runners.org/writeups/fan/index.html) and saw all of the stuff people pulled out of their blower fans on here so with 179,000 miles I decided to clean mine. I tried to take the plastic fan off to clean the underside too. I took off the clamp and pulled pretty hard with no success. After that I noticed considerable resistance when turning the fan. Any advice? I don't want to put it back in and have a fire under my dash from the motor. Thanks guys.

 

you might do a search on here ,someone done a very good write up on how to rebuild the fan motor a while back.