It's H O T !

[bkgiii]

Eric had a thread earlier, to which Landpimp said that a fan clutch COULD be replaced without moving the shroud, although it's hard on the arms. Well, it's HOT in south Mississippi, and mine is 'weak', which is causing poor AC performance and (yikes) a temporary spike of the temp gauge.

SO....is it really that difficult to replace it, and while I'm in there, what else should I replace?

 

[PHAEDRUS]

its not that hard, it just helps to ahve some patience and soem ratcheting box end wrenches. canbe done without removing the radiator will just take some time to do. basically remove the shroud from the rad, remove the blade form teh coupler and then remove the coupler. reinstall in reverse.
Dave

 

[cruiserdan]

In order to remove the shroud the battery and tray also have to come out, as well as the upper radiator hose.

I replaced Tabascofish's fan clutch and water pump with the shroud and battery still in the truck. This will work only if you are stock up front (no blower or 2nd battery). You can remove the top shroud bolts and gently push the RH (USPS) side of the shrould toward the engine. You can then snake the blade and clutch out between the shroud and radiator. Be very careful when you manipulate the shroud. They are brittle and like to snap especialy in cold weather.

 

[mabrodis]

Whoa, whoa...very easy to replace the fan clutch...I hate to disagree with cruiserdan, but certainly don't need to remove any hose, maybe to actually take the fan shroud out, but not to just get the fan out.

Take off the two 12mm bolts at the top of the shroud, lift up the shroud a bit, that pulls it out of the notch it's in at the bottom. Now the shroud is free, can't come out ofcourse, but free in there. Now loosen the 4 12mm nuts that hold the fan clutch to the waterpump pulley (do not loosen the belts yet, those are helpful here), usually I have to take a wrench and hit it with something to get a sharp blow on it, to crack these loose, if you just twist them then the pulley will slip on the belts, or the engine will turn over, neither is helpful. Once you crack all 4 of those loose, then loosen the belts (adjustment above alternator, ratchet wrench here helps). Push fan shroud back and lift fan/fan-clutch combo out, fan shroud never comes out.

Swap fan onto new fan clutch, put in there, tighten nuts on waterpump pulley as best you can, tighten belts, finish tightening nuts on waterpump pulley, put two bolts back on top of fan shroud...drink beer, repeat...a great time to replace the belts also, if you put on new belts it's amazing how much more they grip the waterpump pulley. With my old belts the pulley would easily slip on the belts, even though the belts were plenty tight, with the new belts it wouldn't slip at all, just turned over the engine, even with only using a 12mm wrench, surprising you can turn the engine over that easily.

The whole thing can be done is like 10-15 minutes if done right.

 

[cruiserdan]

Um,

read my post again.

 

[Rich]

Look at the engine side of your radiator core. Are all of the fins nice and straight? Want to keep them that way? After you loosen the shroud insert a good sized piece of cardboard to prevent the fan, tools, or clutch from contacting the core.

 

[RavenTai]

nicely timed thread , my fan clutch shipped today should be here in time for this weekend

I have never heard mine kick in, I wussed out on the test and (how can I do this without fingers? ) just going to replace it

 

[GXO]

FYI, before you loosen belts use them to your advantage.

I actually tightened mine a bit more than stock, then leaned on one while wrenching on the fan 12mm bolts. This will create a nice "belt wrench" to keep the pulley steady.

 

[erics_bruisers]

I just replaced the clutch over the weekend -- nothing removed, just the belt tension slacked off a bit, then 4 nuts on the shroud -

eric

 

[ginericLC]

I have a question about this. My 91 appears that the fan is locked up permanently. Can I pull the fan clutch and replace the fluid and it will magically start working again? Or am I screwed and need to buy a new fan clutch?

 

[GXO]

Fan clutch is about $100 bucks and pretty easily swapped.

I would just go for it.

 

[PHAEDRUS]

Eric,
your screwed,
the older (fj60) type had some special oil you could change out and reuse. these do not.
Dave

 

[ginericLC]

Yep! Cruiser Dan gave me the message this morning when I was getting a spindle that the newer ones were not serviceable. Hmmm! some things are not better on the 80 series than the 60. I really should order one but I'm a little short on cash at the moment. Moab was not nice to me. I lost a wheel bearing on my way home and it took the spindle out too. Spindles are about $200, the axle rebuild stuff was about $350 with all new bearings everywhere. I will never use Redline Racing Grease again! I had used a tube and half maybe even a tube and 3/4 on one side and there was nothing but a black dripping goop lightly coating the bearings. The side I used Mobil 1 because I ran out of Redline is fine. No axle seal leaks or anything else, the wheel bearing seal was fine.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Do you think there's another issue that caused it to overheat and fail? I'm a Mobil 1 fan, but Redline's also good stuff. Overheat ANY grease and it will blacken, thin and fail to protect your bearings. Sorry it happened, but wondering if you can add any other data or input. Was it repacked just before the trip?

DougM

 

[GXO]

[quote author=ginericfj80 link=board=2;threadid=16110;start=msg155537#msg155537 date=1084396104]
Yep! Cruiser Dan gave me the message this morning when I was getting a spindle that the newer ones were not serviceable. Hmmm! some things are not better on the 80 series than the 60. I really should order one but I'm a little short on cash at the moment. Moab was not nice to me. I lost a wheel bearing on my way home and it took the spindle out too. Spindles are about $200, the axle rebuild stuff was about $350 with all new bearings everywhere. I will never use Redline Racing Grease again! I had used a tube and half maybe even a tube and 3/4 on one side and there was nothing but a black dripping goop lightly coating the bearings. The side I used Mobil 1 because I ran out of Redline is fine. No axle seal leaks or anything else, the wheel bearing seal was fine.
[/quote]

I just ordered a knuckle housing and a spindle from cruiserparts.net for $160 shipped. :whoops:

 

[Beowulf]

Dan,
How many miles and what condition is the spindle in? It would be a bummer to get one from a wrecked truck that wasn't any better maintained than the average high-mileage mall cruiser. I've seen wrecks where the axle was bent so there had to be a lot of stress on the knuckle housing and spindle. It sure is a lot of trouble swapping out those parts to save $40 over a new spindle with the needle bearings.

-B-

 

[Beowulf]

For those of you seriously considering going with front axle parts salvaged from wrecked trucks, please read the following thread started by dd113 (David.)

And the bad parts he got were from cruiserparts.net

https://forum.ih8mud.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=14890

Penny-wise and pound foolish if you ask me.

-B-

 

[bull]

http://slowspeed.com/repair/fanclutch.html

 

[GXO]

[quote author=Beowulf link=board=2;threadid=16110;start=msg156212#msg156212 date=1084465692]

For those of you seriously considering going with front axle parts salvaged from wrecked trucks, please read the following thread started by dd113 (David.)

And the bad parts he got were from cruiserparts.net

https://forum.ih8mud.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=14890

Penny-wise and pound foolish if you ask me.

-B-
[/quote]

Bah! I tend to agree with you on the spindle, but the housing is a bit more tame.

 

[Beowulf]

And I will agree with you on the housing if there was some way to be 100% sure it wasn't torqued or bent and if you know you're getting the correct part.

My time is too precious to risk a bad part. If it's a non-moving, non-critical part that is quickly and easily replaced then go for it. Most front axle parts don't fall in that category IMHO. On the other hand, if it was a used vs new ECU then I would go for it in a heartbeat. High cost for new, low incidence of failure; no moving parts; relatively easy to replace; works or doesn't most of the time.

-B-