I've heard of this "upgrade" before and I have to replace my fan clutch tomorrow so I wanted to know a few things:

what year/model of the zj fan clutch should I use?

are there any downsides to this option?

I'm moving to a place where it gets cold in the winter (currently in socal so never had to worry about this) would it be better to use an xj fan clutch so my car doesn't have to work harder to warm up?

thanks guys
Dan

 

A1racer posted some info on this upgrade a while back, had to do an advanced search but found it.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/showth...ghlight=clutch

 

thanks winston, I knew that thread was around here somewhere I just couldn't find it.

 

does anyone know of a way to jimmy rig the electric fan to run all the time? that would work better, and wouldn't put any unnecessary wear on the engine.

 

Just wire your electric on a switch. Its simple and effective for trail/slow city traffic. Do a search and you can find tons of people who have done it.

 

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/showpo...0&postcount=21

 

thanks dj,
how did you connect the switch to the fan? did you have to cut off the temp sensor and splice it in? is there a way to do it and still keep it connected to the temp sensor?

 

I have 2 fans. The one on the top is off the clutch, the one on the bottom is electric. I used a lighted switch w/3 prongs. You can see in the second pic, the red wire along the firewall goes from the battery (with an in-line fuse) to the power prong on the back of the switch. In pic #3, you can see at the bottom a little green wire (which is + for the fan) and that runs to the "accessory" on the switch prong. There is a ground wire on that fan, and I connected that to the body, and the ground prong off the switch to a ground in the cab. Works good. Got a chance to really use it last wknd on the trail. I grabbed that fan at the JY off some xj. It was laying in the seat. Paid $15.

Now, the fan can be turned on/off whenever I want, and I know it's on because of the lighted switch.

 

Best place to wire it in is right at the fan.

Open your hood and look down at your right side.

There should be a two-wire connector between the fan istelf and the airbox.
(The current comes up from beneath the airbox)



The WHITE is the + lead to the fan. On the wiring harness side the wire is GREEN.
I use one of the blue crimp-splices. This way the original wire remains intact.

Here is my slice for my set-up. Notice its tapped into the "GREEN" wire (harness-side) And its low and out of sight.




Side note: You might want to splice in BEFORE the fan. This way if you have to remove the fan for WHATEVER reason later, you can simply unplug it and not worry about your splice.

 

good info, thanks guys, got the clutch today, I'll do the switch for the electric later this week.

 

part number for that fan clutch?

 

I decided to use the xj fan clutch instead of the zj fan clutch. I have an issue though, I installed it, then ran my engine for 30 min and got it nice and warm, then I tested the resistance and it was the same as when it was cold. isn't it supposed to have more resistance? Is my new clutch deffective? I thought the fan should be really hard to turn when the engine was warm.

 

one more thing...how necessary is the fan shroud? I got it out with the fan to install the new clutch, but I couldn't get it back in when I reinstalled the fan. Is there any danger in running with out it besides the lack of protection for your fingers?

 

The idea in changing the fan clutch was better cooling...right?

Running without the fan shroud defeats any gain you may have made.

ALSO: Its a safety issue too. UNLESS you love pain and don't mind the sight of blood.

There is a trick to it.

The idea is to push the shroud as tightly against the engine as possible BEFORE installing the fan clutch.
Patience is a virtue here.
After the fan clutch has been installed, pull shroud to radiator and install mounting bolts

 

so the fan shroud helps cool the engine? how so?

also, has anyone tried replacing the clutch fan with another electric fan? it looks like there would be enough room if I just pulled another fan at a jy and mounted it in.