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Fan pulley bending?!

A

AdamGBabcock

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Puyallup, WA
I've never seen a pulley do this without having some play in it... doesn't make any noises or rotate roughly unless you count the grinding into the radiator. Happened on my way home yesterday and was wondering if anyone had any expertise in the matter. I'm going to get a new fan assembly (with pulley) but is it maybe something else that's bent? I haven't been able to take it off and look yet because I'm at work and it happened late last night. Any help or advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Adam

(Sorry not the best quality cell phone pics)

xfqlo1.jpg


This one you can see it pressed almost all the way against the radiator with the blades and those dumb tabs (between top two blades) have sliced into my radiator. Can also tell the extremity of the bend by looking at the bands of the belt.

ru90ur.jpg


Other side.

2iiekbr.jpg



Thanks again!
 
I don't get what you mean by could be a result of hitting the radiator. My motor mounts and tranny mount should probably all be replaced, I've noticed they have a little more play than I'd like but the pulley is still clearly bent. Do you know if this one is on a rod or if it's a long bolt that goes into the block that's maybe bent? I work until dark so figuring out the issue then will not likely be as easy and I'm a noob so any advice helps

Thanks
 
I think he was saying that the bent pulley/fan/clutch could be the result of the motor mounts allowing the fan to hit the radiator.

If the mounts allow too much movement, it's not uncommon to have that happen.

The pulley/fan/clutch are attached to a shaft that runs into the mounting bracket and both the bracket and shaft are generally replaced as an assembly.
 
I see... Thank you. I'll pick up the assembly tonight and new mounts soon. Just have to drive a little less torque-y for now haha. If anyone else has helpful advice, I'll keep checking here but these responses kind of line up with what I was thinking so I think we got it *crosses fingers*.
 
Yes sorry, I guess I could have explained it better. Thanks for elaborating Shorty.

Usually the motor mount will fail allowing the motor to move left and right more than it should, when it gets bad enough the sleeves will completely seperate from the rubber and begin to allow front to back movement. when that happens, the trans mount gets stretched and starts to fatigue because it is taking up the force of this forward to back movement. that allows the fan to hit the radiator, and can bend that pulley because it's pretty thin metal to begin with.

Usually if one motor mount goes bad the other one follows pretty quick (but not always). if both are bad, its almost 100% certain that the trans mount is bad too. It's a good idea to replace all three at the same time.
 
Check your motor mount block brackets too. The pas side one attaches to the engine block with 3 bolts. Mine loosened up and snapped.

http://naxja.net/forum/showthread.php?t=64025
http://naxja.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1007006&highlight=bracket
There's more if you search.
I ended up dixing mine with a T&J Performance Motor mount block bracket from Barnett Performance

I would have gone with Brown Dog but the mount they originally had didn't have as many mounting points as it does now.
Definitely go with teh Brown Dog Motor Mount Block Brackets if it turns out ya need them. Solid product and stand up people.
 
I would pull the belt, fan and pulley off. I might be mistaken but it seems the top nut on the pulley is not tighten all the way down. If that's the case, Realign the pulley on there, install the clutch and tighten all the nuts down correctly while keeping the pulley on.
 
Last edited:
You can very clearly see in the pics that the pulley that the fan is mounted to isn't anywhere near being in alignment with the other pulleys. This is NOT a motor mount issue. What you have is a bad pulley bearing/bracket. The entire aluminum bracket that bolts to the block needs to be replaced. This is the bracket that the a/c compressor and alternator mount on. That bearing is NOT serviceable and is pressed into the aluminum bracket. Finding a good used one should be very easy, I've got one in Auburn if needed.

John
 
Looks to me like the pulley mount is broke, or possible the accessory bracket as mentioned above, or even a stud issue on the pulley mount?

I'd pull the belt and fan clutch and pulley, whatever is broke should be very visible with it being that far out of line.
 
Pull it apart, you need to fix something.

Just a SWAG here but the fan pulley bearing is likely TOAST.

Yes, bad engine/trans mounts will cause problems very similar, but the angle on the pulley screams BEARING at me.
 
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