Replacing fan clutch and need some help

[Rob Mayercik]

Vehicle: 92XJ 4.0

I am in the process of replacing fan clutch (also shroud), and have run into a bit of a tight spot - literally.

I was able to get the fan out by way of my old (broken) shroud and using a screwdriver as a level to rotate the pulley, but I'm stumped on getting it back together:

I was only barely able to get my hands in far enough to reinstall 3 nuts with the shroud out of the engine, but I just can't get to that fourth one. Worse, I can't rotate the pulley now - it fell off while I had things fully apart, and while I've been able to slip the pulley back on and the belt back over it, I can no longer "slip it" under the belt.

So, why don't I loosen the belt a bit? I'm trying to, but don't have a wrench long enough to reach that lower nut on the back of the PS pump. Going to swing by the local Home Depot later and see if I can get a longer 1/2", but am open to "DIY solutions" as well.

I'm really hoping I don't have to go shaving down the bottom of my brand-new shroud to get it in without pulling the whole fan out again, because I just can't figure out how to get my hands far enough in to put nuts on the studs with the shroud in place.

Is there some sort of secret trick that I'm missing here?

 

[souske]

Worst case, you could pull the radiator support and the header and have all the room in the world
Are you sure.the.belt is routed properly?

Mine was tight with.the.zj clutch and 3core rad, but I managed to slip it in without.taking anything apart.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

I'm pretty sure the belt is routed right - everything looks like it did before the pulley popped off the studs, and it was fine before. If I could just get the pulley to rotate I'd be able to spin the whole thing to get to that last nut, and I'd bet that since the whole fan/pulley is slightly cockeyed from being apart, that might be part of my "clearance" problem for getting my fingers in to spin on the nuts.

I think I'd rather shave down the shroud than try and pull the header apart. Considering the shroud only cost me $19 ($9 to buy, $9 to ship), I think I'll take my chances there.

 

[souske]

Put the nuts back on the pulley, and usr them to bring it square again.
If.you cut.the shroud, you defeat some of its effectiveness, and are.back to square one.

Really should just loosen the belt.

 

[Pelican]

Do you have the air box off? I just went through a belt change ('93) and I don't consider my end wrenches to be particularly long but had no problem reaching the nuts on the rear of the PS pump.

 

[ParadiseXJ]

You can get to the P/S pump bolt from underneath. Easier to just pull the air box. Sometimes I hesitate to take things apart, but I seem to spend more time and considerable aggravation working around it, when I could have saved ALOT of time by dismantling some stuff.

The fan shroud has to be placed in first, draped up over the A/C pulley while you re-install the fan clutch, then you can just drop it back into place and pop it in to the mounting tabs down below.

 

[Pelican]

Pulling the box also makes it a lot easier to get to the adjustment bolt.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

I had completely missed the the fact that I could pull the air filter box - IIRC I never-siezed the nuts for that the last time I had that out, so I should be able to get it out without snapping anything off. Thanks for pointing out the obvious!

I did try putting fan and shroud in together, but when I did that I couldn't get my hands past it to put the nuts onto the studs. Of course when I tried that I still had the e-fan installed; now that it's out, perhaps I'll have better luck "using the side entrance".

As to shroud mods, I was thinking I could knock down the ring around the perimeter of the blades a little between the 5:00 and 7:00 positions to give me some margin getting past those funny little tabs on the front of the fan clutch, but maybe with the e-fan out that won't be necessary.

Bottom access to the PS pump is out until I can get the OEM front skid off (though that's on the schedule too, as it's taken enough hits over the years that the rear legs of the skid have bowed/compressed and the skid now prevents the swaybar from rotating like it should on the road when I'm connected up).

Thanks for the info!

 

[iwannadie]

With my 97, I pull the e-fan out of the way, remove shroud bolts and then remove the fan attached to the clutch with the shroud all at once. I have the ZJ clutch and there is barely enough room but I saw no other way to do it other than all 3 coming out and going back in together.

It is a major pain working around the shroud but I could reach the bolts, I wouldn't cut the shroud. Although I've been really thinking of making my shroud a 2 piece to make this all easier ha. On another vehicle the PO cut the shroud in half(horizontal) and it now bolts together, seems like a clever solution to me.

Putting it back together clutch,fan,shroud go in, I snug down the bolts on the clutch until it starts to turn, then I tighten the belt and crank down the bolts and loosen to the belt to rotate, repeat until they are all tight.

 

[Alaskan89XJ]

My aggravation with the shroud was a simple fix. Cut through the plastic at the six o'clock position with a hacksaw blade. Drilled two holes, one on either side of the cut, using a piece of plumbers tape, (Zinc coated metal strap with holes), as a template for the holes, and to be used latter as the fastening piece with some little nuts, and bolts pasted with never-seize type stuff. Caution though.., wiggling the shroud around is a gentle procedure, as that plastic is prone to crack anywheres, at anytime by rough housing with it!

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Well, pulling the air filter box out gave me the access I needed for the fourth bolt on the PS pump so I could loosen the belt. Once I figured out which way to turn the adjuster bolt, I was able to get the pulley back into place.

I also discovered that with the e-fan removed I was able to rotate the shroud for the mechanical fan to give me better access to the studs - I finagled it until the "top" of the shroud was actually oriented toward the battery, which gave me the room I needed to get my hands in there and get the fan bolted back in, then I rotated the shroud back into the correct orientation and put everything else back in.

Now I have to find time to get back out there and get that front skid off so my swaybar isn't grinding/binding against it.

Thanks for all the help, guys.