Need emergency part Victoria area!! - Viscous clutch for rad fan

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GTSSportCoupe

GTSSportCoupe

2LTE abuser
10 Year
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Threads
242
Messages
9,545
Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
Anyone have a viscous fan clutch for a cruiser kicking around? I need one desparately. Mine is the 'blue' one (same as on the 80 series), but I think they are probably interchangeable between other cruisers too. The spring that enables the internal oil valving is broken on mine. I can pick up tonight or tomorrow morning. Will pay $$. Post here, or call me at 250-3 nine one-zero 951

All packed up for a trip to Rathtrevor with my family and was hoping to leave in the morning tomorrow. Given the super hot weather I was doing a pre trip check on my cruiser. Just happened to discover the broken spring on the fan hub. This sort of thing can spell disaster for a 2lte. Heh, looks like it's been broken for a long time too...I'm lucky.
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Ill go hunt for my old one that worked fine. Might have gone with the cruiser. Cross your fingers.....
 
Got the part Cam; thanks again. I put something for you in the same spot you had left the parts. I'm hoping now that no one drives over the stuff... In retrospect I should have put it to the side of the Audi, not right in front. :doh: Too tired, not thinking right.
 
I just checked my computer this morning. I've got one from the 13BT, so if you are in need still for whatever reason, I'll deliver.
So much stress for holidays! Nick, wish you had been along yesterday. Call me if there is anything I can do.
 
cruiserpilot said:
I just checked my computer this morning. I've got one from the 13BT, so if you are in need still for whatever reason, I'll deliver.
So much stress for holidays! Nick, wish you had been along yesterday. Call me if there is anything I can do.
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Thanks a lot Jon!! This place is great; I would have been screwed otherwise. I should be ok now this morning once I get everything back together. I'm going to put some new silicone oil into the hub from Cam; as this is something I had been planning to do with my old one anyhow. Going to upgrade the viscosity a bit. I'm excited to see how well I do towing. I'll give you a call a bit later today about the manuals.
 
Well, seems fate does not favour me today. New fan clutch not working...not sure why. Engages when the truck first starts (as it should because of pooled oil inside), then starts spinning freely after driving for a bit (again, as it should). Then, just keeps on spinning freely no matter how hot the engine gets. Little thermo spring/valve thing doesn't seem to be working. I did put new oil in it...maybe I screwed something up or didn't put enough in or something. I put the same oil in that a lot of the 80 guys have been putting in their hubs. 10000cst.

Wife is really pissed. Hard to get sites at Rathtreavor... Anyhow, going to phone around and see if I can source a new one. Its enough work to get the hub in/out of the Prado I don't want to take any more chances. Its a real arm/knuckle scratching job.

Thanks anyhow guys.
 
Turns out napa has one on the shelf for a 92 FJ80 for $98. Seems like a reasonable price. Might try to toss that sucker in and still get out tonight.
 
Good luck, I wish I was there to at least lend a hand! Keep trying, Rathtreavor is worth the effort. If you need anything else, I can be mobile
in a minute.
 
I've gotten by in the past using a hose clamp tightened down between the fins of the clutch and the bolts attaching it to the water pump. It will lock the clutch and get you by in a pinch.

When changing out the silicone oil, I've found its a good idea to back up the o ring with some RTV.
 
Weird. My overheating issue wasn't really an overheating issue at all, rather a bad gauge. Replacing that fan clutch didn't make a difference thus leading me to believe it was in fact working fine. I wouldn't have kept it if I knew it was f*cked. Damn.

I haven't drank any of your presents yet so if you want to trade back let me know.
 
Nick dropped off a couple of recently purchased manuals for me on the way through Cassidy. Everything was
working well. The amount of heat coming off that fan was impressive. But he was on his way after a quick
check and everything was okay.
 
cruiserpilot said:
Nick dropped off a couple of recently purchased manuals for me on the way through Cassidy. Everything was
working well. The amount of heat coming off that fan was impressive. But he was on his way after a quick
check and everything was okay.
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Was it the Napa fan? Or my old one?
 
slowandsteady BJ said:
I haven't drank any of your presents yet so if you want to trade back let me know.
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Keep the goods man! I really appreciate the fact you went out within minutes and dug that thing out for me. Like I say, maybe me putting new fluid in it messed something up. Or maybe it just needs to get really hot before it kicks in. Don't know.

Anyhow, yeah put the jobber Napa one in. I didn't quite have the right offset, and the fan blades were almost touching the crank pulley, so I had to modify it a bit. Also, it was small, with few cooling fins, but has lots of resistance and moves lots of air once it heats up. Worked as it should on this trip.

I weighted my rig on the way up Island fully loaded. Truck axles were 2470kg, trailer axle was 1370kg! Towing that in the 30+ degree heat Weds and back today over the Malahat was a real nail bitter. Little 2lte was not impressed. Good power, but she got pretty hot. Its crazy how much heat IDI's absorb. Wonder if a DI engine like a 13BT done properly with more boost/fuel and a good intercooler would suffer heat absorption moving 8500lb in 30C up a long grade? I suppose also that going to an 81 would do it, but I really like the 70 lwb. Not that I have the funds to do something like that right now anyhow. Told the wife something has to change though. Either a smaller trailer (what I wanted anyhow; little trillium/boler) or a bigger truck. When I tow in the low 20's (C) or less there is no issue. When not towing there is also never an issue.

RockDoc, I like the hose clamp idea; that is a good one. And Seapotato, I was very very close to doing what you said. Might be the best mod for the Prado actually, haha!

Anyhow, thanks for all the support guys. And was good to see you again Jon; thanks for the picture from our trip.
 
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slowandsteady BJ said:
Replacing that fan clutch didn't make a difference thus leading me to believe it was in fact working fine.
Click to expand...

Hey Cam finally had a chance to look close at your old fan hub today. I think I figured out why it wasn't working for me and it worked OK for you. One of the first things I did when I got it was clean the thermo-spring with some throttle body cleaner. It was a little grimy and I wanted to make sure it was clean so it would work well. Anyhow, I think I removed too much grime, because when I looked close today I could see that where the center of the spring connects to the shaft of the internal valve, there is a lot of play. This would delay the action of the spring until a fairly high temperature. I think when the grime was in there it actually eliminated this play and made it work better, haha! I should have installed it exactly has you had it and I probably would have been fine.

Also, I was idling while I was testing the fan. The offset of the 60 fan puts it further from the rad in the LJ78. I think there was probably not enough airflow to get the spring hot enough to engage the fan. I was revving the engine, but likely not long enough. Had I been driving it may have engaged due to great airflow.

Interestingly I took apart the original fan clutch from my LJ78 and found a whole bunch of sharpie pen marks inside of it. So someone (probably in Japan) has had it apart before for some reason. Turns out also that the way the spring had broken and the position the valve was in, it had actually made the fan run continuously probably at about 50% power. This is why I had not had any heat problems with the broken spring. Truck is so quiet now when running cool with the reduced fan noise.

So, the Napa one will get me by for the time being, but I think I'm going to get a hold of a used FZJ80 one, and modify it the way the 80 guys in the south US do. They've figured out how to adjust the turn on temp etc., and of course add the thicker oil. Seems that Toyota reduced the effectiveness of the oil viscosity as the years have passed, probably to keep the fan noise down in the more luxurious landcruisers as the years went by. Would explain why the Prado fans suck too, as they are a similar part as the FZJ80 fan and were a 'luxurious' vehicle in Japan. I'm becoming a fan clutch expert...lol.
 
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