Belt routing/fan pulley removal

00 XJ 4.5/AW4
I just switched to dual electric fans and want to remove the fan pulley/bearing assembly.
Diagram of both oem routing and my proposed routing.

www.paceenterprises.us/belt

My concern is that there may not be enough belt contact.
I don't wheel in water or mud & the engine splashshield is still intact. I do live in Michigan though so some dampness will happen. If I keep the belt tensioned properly I "think" all should be well unless I drench it.
Any thoughts or persional experiences with this is much appreciated.
TIA
Nathan

I had a similar idea:




The only problem is that I'd have to grind away the lower lip of the alternator mounting bracket and the only way to do that is to remove the bracket and put it under the grinder. Since I'm a bit lazy, I haven't got around to doing it yet.
The stock belt is 1475mm (58") long and the new shorter belt needs to be 1050mm (41") long. I found a 6-ribbed belt from a Mercedes diesel that's an exact fit.

here's a good write-up for you:

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoElectricFan.htm

nathan i have the same set up u are trying to do.it works fine i have the belt number but i need to go to my jeep to get it.u do need to keep the belt tight though.i tried a smaller belt to keep future adjustments and the belt did not go around the crank pulley enough to work.sometimes when i first start the jeep up the belt will squel when i turn out of a parking spot only with the a/c on only when cold other wise it works fine.be right back with belt #...

ok the number on the belt is 6PK2065 some belt companies like good year,dayco,etc..even belts that u get from other places heve thier number on it but almost all belt makers have the 6pk number on them-being the 6 as the ribs-a 5pk belt has 5 ribs,a 4pk belt has 4 ribs etc...and the 2065 number is the lenghth in milimeters.dr.dynos belt set up is for the earlier xj's that have a tensioner pulley near the a/c compressor and uses the p/s pump to tension the belt where as the newer models use a seperate tensioner pulley for belt adjustment.so the routing for the water pump is different as u can see in the diagrams.

Thanks for all the info. This is exactly what I was hoping/looking to hear.

Dr. Dyno said:

I had a similar idea:

The only problem is that I'd have to grind away the lower lip of the alternator mounting bracket and the only way to do that is to remove the bracket and put it under the grinder. Since I'm a bit lazy, I haven't got around to doing it yet.
The stock belt is 1475mm (58") long and the new shorter belt needs to be 1050mm (41") long. I found a 6-ribbed belt from a Mercedes diesel that's an exact fit.

Click to expand...

Sorry. It should be 2475mm for the stock belt and 2050mm for the shorter belt (part no. 6PK2050).

This was nearly 2 years ago, but when I installed dual electric fans, I thought that I kept the fan pulley on and just bought new, shorter bolts to keep it on the center pin without the fan.