By: Grant Jones
I found that my viscous fan coupling was starting to leak and at the price of a new one I went looking far alternatives.
So following his well written instructions I proceeded after I found out where he got his from. The first problem I encountered was getting the old viscous coupling out. Mine was original 1996 and it has corroded onto the shaft (patience and breakfree lubricant worked, I just love the aviation industry products).
$199.00 dollars later I has my fan and with slight deviations from how he cut down the fan shroud (rather than a hobby knife I used a sabre saw) I found the fitting of the ICE electric fan a piece of cake.
I fitted the fan into the shroud using approximately 12 stainless steel pop rivets (maybe an over kill but that is just me). The next problem was removing the fan mounting bracket so that I could modify it, two bolts that are easy to access in the front and a rather long one at the rear. I discovered that you had to undo the air-conditioner compressor mounting bolts to allow for removal of the fan bracket, one the bracket was out and some judicial use of a hacksaw and large hammer I had one modified bracket that looked like the article in
GoJeeps article
Now the fun part was finding the best path for the serpentine belt, I tried the path used by Marcus Kramer (see link in GoJeeps article) and did not like that at all as I could see all kinds of problems with it. So I got out the workshop manual and had a look at belt paths on different engines, and after consulting an air conditioner tech and my mechanic I opted for a path that had the belt running from Air conditioner to power steering pump.
After measuring up the belt length required I contacted REPCO and they ordered a Dayco belt part number 6PK2100 / 827K6 at a cost of $59.00, and once I was sure that it was correct length I ordered a second one as a spare. I now have two electric fans that can be removed to allow full access to the back of the radiator for cleaning in 10 minutes (4 screws and one electrical terminal)
Next challenge was the wiring up of this additional fan so that it worked in conjunction with the existing fan (the ICE fan came with relay and wiring harness). I installed two relays as I wanted to be able to activate both fans manually as well as them work in conjunction with the temp sensor. With some thought I accomplished what I wanted.
The first fan relay is triggered by the air conditioner fan simply by splicing the relay trigger wire into existing fan power wire on top of radiator so that both fans kick in when temp rises or you turn on your air conditioner.
Second relay was wired up so that it starts the air conditioner fan which then triggers the additional fan.
All it meant was that I had to splice a second power wire from the relay into the air con fan power wire, simple really. Now I have the luxury of letting normal jeep systems start both fans or I can manually turn them on myself and that is really handy when going up steep hills I just flick switch as I approach the hill and with both fans going temp never goes over 100.
See wiring diagrams above for how I did the relays
For more details visit
www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoElectricFan.htm
Have fun as it is a rather easy mod to do
Fan = $199.00
2 belts = $116.00
1 * 30 Amp relay = $8.00