96 cherokee sport 4.0 AC...I am all set to yank the clutch fan and replace it with an electric...need help with a few questions from you wizards before I start:

When I remove the four bolts holding the clutch fan to the pully, is the pully gonna fall off?...if so, should I remove the rib belt first? or will it be possible to just muscle the thing back into place and re-install either the stock bolts or shorter ones?....

Any other pointers or advice you guys can offer will be gratefully accepted...thanks

 

Yes loosen the belt 1st cause the fan holds on the pulley. What kind of electric fan/fans are you using? I did away with the mech fan pulley altogether

 

Already upgraded the stock aux electric fan w/ a 97 XJ...higher CFM...direct fit other than the necessary swap of the molex plugs...here's what I got to replace the mechanical:

http://www.kmjent.com/cart/product.php?productid=1773

I have never messed around with the belt...whats the best way to loosen it without running the risk of having to wrack my feeble brain for re-routing...and do I need a kricket tension guage to correctly tweak the tension back?

Thanks for any help here...total newbie here with unscraped knuckles....

 

Just take the fan clutch and blades off I think you can leave the pulley.

 

I dont remember if the 96's have the idler pulley or not. With an idler pulley you just loosen the nut on the idler then turn the long bolt to move the idler.

If it doesnt have the idler then you basically remove the PS pump which is a pain

I never use a tensioner thingy. I just tighten it where it doesnt squeal anymore which may take alittle bit of time to work out

 

Wow... I'm liking this. over 2100 cfm and only around $30. I was looking at a kit from ebay that was almost $300 with 3300 cfm. Would we just mount the new e-fan in the old mech fan shroud?

 

i just bought dual 14" electric fans off ebay that have 1200 cfm each. They cool my xj like crazy, i wish i would have done this right away. i also just took a sawzall and cut the old fan off the pulley itself. Did the same thing on my friends 05' power wagon and it worked perfect. You will notice a nice power upgrade once u do this.

 

Everything I have read suggests that this fan will bolt to the shroud with just a little bit of tweaking...will wire it to a dash switch so I can turn it off when the weather gets cold...but my worry is getting involved with the stinkin rib belt...I am out in the woods on what will be involved there...

 

I'd suggest u leave the belt tight, remove the plastic shroud, remove the 4 nuts holding the fan clutch to the pulley, then remove the mech fan and clutch as a unit and re-install/tighten the 4 nuts to the pulley.

 

I like the elegance of just buzzing off the shaft...

 

Hey djb383...if I yank those four bolts, that's not gonna allow the pulley to just fall off will it?...thats my worry...

 

Isn't there a thermoswitch you can buy to control the temperature?

 

I considered using a thermo switch but decided there was no point...since the fan draws relatively little current I don't see any disadvantage to it staying on plus why introduce another variable into the equation...just something else to go wrong at the wrong time...simple switch/relay and the fan runs full tilt boogie until cold weather...

 

They're not bolts (at least not on a '98 XJ), they're nuts that screw on to studs. Remove the nuts and remove the fan/clutch as a unit. The pulley remains on the studs and u re-tighten the nuts back on the studs. Again, don't loosen the belt.

The problem I'm having with the efan in your link is the fact that the add says over 2150 CFM at 7 amps. That sounds "to good to be true" and I bet it is. I've looked at about a dozen efans in the Jegs and Summit catalogs and can't find even one 14" efan that moves 2150 CFM at only 7 amps. Their 7 amp 14" fans show less than 1000 CFM.

 

guys this is what I put in my bmw and its been working great for over 6 months.
From this same guy to.

Derale thermostat and relay kit

If you look at his store he also sells procomp fans of various sizes and styles, I'm using a 16" curved one in my bmw, seems he switched to straight ones now.

You NEED a thermostat and relay otherwise the fan will turn on when the engine is cold and take longer to heat up and affect performance in the winter. PLUS when it doesnt need to be on its saving the life of the fan and power.

Here it is mounted to the shroud in the bmw, I uses a few L brackets and washers. DO NOT USE THE CLIPS THAT COME WITH THE FAN THEY WILL BREAK! I screwed L brackets directly into the plastic of the fan.