As you can see here the serpentine belt ran off track and ended up behind the water pump pulley and after taking out the belt (which is still in good condition because I pulled over right away when I lost power steering and coolant temp shot up) you can see how out of alignment the water pump pulley is compared to the other pulley
This shows a different angle to show the fan if that helps

The WP (water pump) pulley is pushed out so far that I can't even get the fan shroud out to get a better angle at it. There is about 1-2 cm of clearance between it and the radiator (thank god it didn't drill a hole in the radiator) but it looks like the lack of room between the fan and radiator is going to affect how easily I can get it out. I know I need a new pump (true to hammer the pulley in so I can remove it but it won't budge. It was going to be replaced anyways). Does anyone have any idea how to get it out in this kind of situation?

 

My first thought is pull the radiator.

 

Oh god. Would I have to undo all the hoses or could I just unscrew it and let it lean forward to give myself more room?

 

Depends on how much space it takes to get it out. I would try just tilting it but it may take more.

 

Think I might just bring it to my mechanic. He'll know exactly what to do

 

Yeah just going to bring it to my mechanic. I'm not experienced enough to fix it myself. Better to let a jeep expert do it

 

How are you going to become a Jeep expert if you don't try. But if you aren't comfortable mechanically yet I would suggest going to a local junk yard and trying things like that out on one of their Jeeps first. If you mess something up it's no big deal.

 

Well my mechanic is also mentoring me on fixing my jeep up so he will show me how to do it. And true but the only jeep salvage yard is a schlep to get to and the jeeps that are there anyways are already pulled apart and tons of pieces were missing. They tried to charge me $30 for a gosh darn seat belt buckle replacement. It wasn't even the one with the seat belt check thing

 

I think you have a reasonable plan. If you have a fair-minded mechanic who is generous enough to pass along knowledge, then go that route. There are always plenty of opportunities to gain a little wrenching experience when you own an XJ.

 

Definitely. And I was wrong. It's not the water pump. It's the fan clutch pulley. I mixed the two up in the belt routing diagram lol. I am going to do it with my dad but my mechanic said to me I can call him if I need advice. It's too much to have him do it but with my dads help we can do it. Have to pull the radiator out

 

Isnt the fan clutch on the water pump?

 

No, don't freak out. If you watch your mechanic work on it, you'll see that it's not as big a deal as you think. Removing and installing a radiator is pretty easy. It's considered a maintenance item on an XJ, so you really ought to learn how to do it yourself.

You can actually lean the radiator forward without taking it out. When I replaced my fan clutch, I took the upper radiator support off and did exactly that to give myself more room to work.

Not on mine. There's a separate pulley offset to the passenger side for the fan clutch and fan. That makes room for the electric fan on the driver's side.

I won't say that all 4.0s have that configuration, but I don't recall seeing an XJ in the junk yard with a centered fan.

 

I never claimed to be an expert so I am likely completely wrong.

 

My '95 has two pulleys one for the fan clutch and one for the water pump.

 

I find pulling the radiator easier than replacing and tightening the belt. Disconnect 3 hoses and a bunch of bolts off the header panel and pull the radiator out.