Clutch fan?

How much power/horsepower does a clutch fan drain? Do I really need it?
If it does suck alot of power is there another option/ repacement fan?

If i remember correctly it only steals less than 5-10hp. You can delete the mechanical fan entirely and run dual electrics or swap in a Ford Taurus electric fan. Theres also the Grand Cherokee clutch upgrade. I remember seeing 5-90 mention he was working on a clutch delete many years ago also. Maybe he finished it.

Search for any of the afore mentioned

The grand is the ZJ? How is that fan better and is it a direct fit? years?

mizzutgr said:

The grand is the ZJ? How is that fan better and is it a direct fit? years?

Click to expand...

joe_peters will be along shortly to give you all the good stuff on the ZJ fanclutch.

In the meantime .... heres some fanclutch info:
--> http://www.haydenauto.com/Featured Products-Fan Clutches and Fan Blades/Content.aspx
--> http://www.haydenauto.com/Fan Clutch Tutorial-Part 1/Content.aspx

FWIW .... & IMHO .... the only real benefits of an electric fan conversion is the ability to switch them off for water crossings .....

...... wellll .... thats all Ive ever gained from them on past vehicles anyway ....

NAPA P/N TEM 272310 is the fan clurch from a ZJ that fits. Be advised that the clutch spins the fan significantly faster so, more HP lost and a bit of fan noise to listen to. But, better cooling. I run one on my 98 and average 17mpg combination city/hiway miles.

The reason for the extra speed is that ZJs do not have a second, electric, fan. The ZJ also turns a larger diameter fan which is why the fan is quiet in a ZJ and noisey in our XJs. Our fans, due to the smaller diameter, spin at about 80% of pulley speed with this clutch.

I changed mine last summer as the stock one was leaking fluid out of the back. Figured might as well upgrade.

Just make sure you do not get the heavy duty version. Will not fit. Interestingly, Autozone only lists one clutch for the XJ and it does not fit as it is the HD version...

Interestingly, we've gone from "do I need a clutch fan" to options for a heavy duty clutch.

Search in Mod Tech with "taurus", "electric fan", etc. etc. for a massive amount of information about fan options. Just to get you in the mood with some basic info, you could start with Go-Jeep's article: http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoTaurusFanInstall1.htm

mizzutgr said:

How much power/horsepower does a clutch fan drain? Do I really need it?
If it does suck alot of power is there another option/ repacement fan?

Click to expand...

That is going to depend on the fan, the type of clutch (standard, heavy duty, or super duty), and engaged or disengaged.

Worst: fixed-blade fan.
Not so bad: flex-blade fan.
Better: heavy duty fan clutch, 80-90 % shaft speed engaged, 30 % disengaged.
Better still: standard duty fan clutch, 60-70 % shaft speed, 30 % disengaged.

And the winner for lowest HP drain is: electrical fan.

That said, auxiliary fans are just that--auxiliary. If you want to do an electrical fan conversion then you need to move a lot of CFMs to replace a mechanical fan and clutch setup.

If you have the bad "goodies"--a/c, auto trans, towing, serious wheeling--then you are already stretching the limits of the XJ cooling system.

You need to move something in the neighborhood of 5000 CFMs.

The Taurus fan conversion is probably the best way to go if you just gotta have that extra HP for racing.