kevinO

oh the woes...i installed a new 3 row radiator and bought a new fan clutch from autozone.the distance from the radiator to the front of the clutch fan was close. the fan clutch contacted the radiator and made holes in it. has anyone ever figured out a non jeep fan clutch that is shorter in lenght that will work ? or do i have to custom move forward the radiator? why do i always try to improve what was stock to supposedly a greater and more efficient system and ALWAYS GET KICKED IN THE @#$

kevinO

ok well it seems that the fan clutch that you will get from autozone or the likes is about 1/2 inch fatter than the stock. so if you decide to go with a 3 row radiator ( which if i could do it again would only be a 2 row) you will need to be very aware of the distance from the front of the clutch fan to the radiator.what i did was move my radiator forward by redrilling the rubber pads mounted on the top of the radiator that allows the top plate to attach to the radiator that mounts the radiator to the body of the jeep. the bottom mount is a pin that fits into the bottom cross member that you cannot modify.moving the top forward seems to have given me about 1 inch clearance.redrilling the top was not a real big deal. finding out that stock and aftermarket are not the same size was a pain in the ... seeing how it ate my new radiator before i discovered the close tolerance.lesson learned never assume that aftermarket stuff is same size as OEM stuff.