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Holes punched in radiators...

K

kasecrew4

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cabot, AR
My last trip out on the trail, we had two Cherokees. During the day, they both ended up with a hole punched in the radiator by the engine fan (right in front of the pulley).

Is this common on XJs, or was that just a fluke to see it happen to both of them on the same day?

If it is common, does anyone have a solution?

I'm thinking of something simple like a kit for the XJ that would replace both stock fans with a single or dual electric fan setup complete with shroud.

Any info is appreciated before I take mine out and punch a hole in the radiator!
 
ive done it about 3 times and is due to bad motor mounts/rolling, what i did to solve it was pulled out the ac condensor then re drilled the holes so i could move the radiator forward 1-2 inches, hasnt happened since.
 
Even with good OEM mounts (I should say not worn or broken, there's nothing "good" about the OEM mounts) The engine moves a lot under acceleration; forward as well as up.
I mounted an electric fan to the radiator with about 1/2" of clearence between it and the OEM fan pulley.
Destroyed the fan the first day.
 
i have great motor mounts and it happend to my brand new radiator it was caused by yes to much body twist the unibody will twist but it is made to go back in place but i got my hole and know i am just running two stock cherokee electric fans and it is great a run them off of one switch that is on/off/on and one fan is up middle is off and both fans(only need for offroading) is down.it works great cheap and easy.
my $0.25

William
 
Okay, so that sounds like one vote for moving the radiator forward, and one for dual electric fans (possibly offset from the pulley).

88rockxj: How hard/easy was it to move the radiator forward? The idea of keeping the stock parts appeals to me; just do a little re-engineering.
 
On my '88 I installed some poly motor mounts and solved the problem. I guess they probably transmit more vibrations than the soft rubber mounts, but the motor doesn't move enough to hit the rad. Good Luck

Woody
 
relocating the radiator and/or going to twin electric fans to cure this problem is only a bandaid. if your fan is contacting the radiator at all THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. i mentioned this to a friend today and he had a similar problem with the radiator. he had lifted his rig and used a slightly longer rear d/shaft to compensate for the lift and it turned out to be too long and eventually broke the tailcone on the t/case but he said he was pretty sure it was pushing the engine forward to contact the radiator.
 
Bad motor mount, or motor mount flex excessive.

That's one of the thing I was trying to address with my fan clutch eliminator - which is in prototpe stages rigth now. Should give you an extra inch and a half clearance bewtween the radiator core and the fan clutch hub but I can't swear to it at the moment. Catch me in couple days, when I'm feeling better...

5-90
 
sidriptide said:
relocating the radiator and/or going to twin electric fans to cure this problem is only a bandaid. if your fan is contacting the radiator at all THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. i mentioned this to a friend today and he had a similar problem with the radiator. he had lifted his rig and used a slightly longer rear d/shaft to compensate for the lift and it turned out to be too long and eventually broke the tailcone on the t/case but he said he was pretty sure it was pushing the engine forward to contact the radiator.
Click to expand...


unless you mount the engine and tranny solid or build custom much stiffer engine mounts theres nothing youre going to be able to do to keep it from hitting if/when your jeep gets bounced around violently or while in 4 low with big tires and excessive torque being applied. moving your radiator forward is very easy and alot of people ditch the ac for onboard air anyways. its not a bandaid its like a steel pin in your leg , may not be the "perfect" solution but its a great solution for more then one reason.
 
88rockxj said:
unless you mount the engine and tranny solid or build custom much stiffer engine mounts theres nothing youre going to be able to do to keep it from hitting if/when your jeep gets bounced around violently or while in 4 low with big tires and excessive torque being applied. moving your radiator forward is very easy and alot of people ditch the ac for onboard air anyways. its not a bandaid its like a steel pin in your leg , may not be the "perfect" solution but its a great solution for more then one reason.
Click to expand...
Except that doing so will also move the fan away from the shroud, possibly causing cooling problems in a system already known for sub par cooling.
 
OK you guy lets just make it simple for him.just do what I did and remove the stock mech. fan and put the pully back on then cut the studs down some so they don't stick out so far.go buy a stock xj electric fan and bolt it to the radiator and radiator upper support just like the stock electric fan is on the other side it takes no brain and is a lot easyer then moving something big.
 
littlebluexj said:
OK you guy lets just make it simple for him.just do what I did and remove the stock mech. fan and put the pully back on then cut the studs down some so they don't stick out so far.go buy a stock xj electric fan and bolt it to the radiator and radiator upper support just like the stock electric fan is on the other side it takes no brain and is a lot easyer then moving something big.
Click to expand...
Simple?
Do a search about electric fans.
Find out how many have tried to make electric fans work on an XJ (me included).
Most have been unsuccessful (me included).
You're trading one set of problems for another.

Just buy good high quality aftermarket mounts like the M.O.R.E.s.
They should hold everything tight enough to keep the radiator reasonably safe.
 
kid4lyf said:
Just buy good high quality aftermarket mounts like the M.O.R.E.s.
They should hold everything tight enough to keep the radiator reasonably safe.
Click to expand...

and some vendors on this board sell MORE procuts :D
 
Last edited:
.... make sure your tranny cross member is straight + mount is good... push up on that and have a bad motomount... bam bybye radiator.
 
Good poly mounts, per kid4lyf and XJ_ranger.
Aftermarket bumper or front receiver hitch will
stiffen up the front below the radiator.
Keep the rpms below 3k.
 
kid4lyf said:
Except that doing so will also move the fan away from the shroud, possibly causing cooling problems in a system already known for sub par cooling.
Click to expand...



done it on two different jeeps, 88 and a 95 never had a single problem with my cooling, i bypass the automatic switch for the elec fan and hook it to a toggle so i cna turn the fan on BEFORE it starts heating up.

oh and did i mention moving the radiator was free? and took prolly an hr, but then again it doesnt work right?
 
good point but it takes nothing to run two electric fans and with good mounts or not the unibody will still twist if your type of wheeling contains a lot of flexing.so it will always bring the radiator into the motor or really close to it.i think that moving the radiator is a good idea but i enjoy having ac in the summer thats one of the reasons i bought an xj to begin with.And yes it coast 40$ dollars to run dual fans and with out the mech fan you are suppose to pick up hourse powere so just do what ever you feel is in your capability ok man.
 
Thanks for all the input; lots of good suggestions to chew on.

Since I like anything that is simple & easy, I'll go with the poly motor mounts for now.

Any suggestions on which manufacturer and best sources (prices) would also be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
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