I can't find my childrens or haynes manual and it's been 20 years since I pulled a typeIV apart.

Can I remove the cooling fan without pulling the fan housing? I want to change a crank seal.

Yes, in fact the impeller (fan) needs to be removed before teh fan house rear section can be removed.

you might want teh fan house off however, just to give you more run to pry out the old seal. but the impeller can be removed with out the fan house being removed.

Thanks!

Side note - you probably meant Chiltons. Childrens, especially the crayon variety, however well intentioned, may not be reliable.

Don't forget the o-ring behind the fan hub. If in bad shape or missing, there will be a leak there that will seem to be caused by the front seal which is itself pretty reliable. The last couple elring kits for type 4 I bought were missing the hub oring. The last 911 Elring kit I bought was missing lots of parts and many of the orings were malformed which is probably why my 911 leaks now. Elring sucks.

I meant Chiltons but intensionally typed childrens..

I haven't cracked the cover on a Type IV repair manual in 20 years. As soon as I went back out I remembered how the thing comes off.

I just pulled the heads and they are cherry! No cracks!