Rhd cherokee fan bearing.

[Unclewolverine]

Everyone who drives a rhd cherokee lives in fear of the day their fan bearing goes out. Not only does it typically also destroy the radiator, it's a very involved repair, and on top of that the actual part has been discontinued for a long time! A skilled mechanic can press out the old bearing and press in a new one since its actually a bearing for a water pump, (NSK 885586.) But that is typically a 50/50 crap shoot that the bracket is still usable or gets damaged in the process. I've heard about entire jeeps being scrapped for lack of this part.

Mine only made it 393k miles, luckily I shut it down before the radiator was damaged. I managed to bodge it back together with a bearing from a lhd bracket, but my rhd assembly has been damaged in the process and I don't know how much longer it will last.

Does anyone have a line on a 93 through 95 bracket? Even if the bearing is out I would be willing to pay to have it shipped and try my luck again. If I can't source a new one then stay tuned because I'll figure a way around it for all of us! Viable options may be to bypass the pully and run duel electric fans, (I don't like this idea,) or switching to lhd accessories and running a modified fan / shroud.

 

[stillfirstclass]

Everyone who drives a rhd cherokee lives in fear of the day their fan bearing goes out. Not only does it typically also destroy the radiator, it's a very involved repair, and on top of that the actual part has been discontinued for a long time! A skilled mechanic can press out the old bearing and press in a new one since its actually a bearing for a water pump, (NSK 885586.) But that is typically a 50/50 crap shoot that the bracket is still usable or gets damaged in the process. I've heard about entire jeeps being scrapped for lack of this part.

Mine only made it 393k miles, luckily I shut it down before the radiator was damaged. I managed to bodge it back together with a bearing from a lhd bracket, but my rhd assembly has been damaged in the process and I don't know how much longer it will last.

Does anyone have a line on a 93 through 95 bracket? Even if the bearing is out I would be willing to pay to have it shipped and try my luck again. If I can't source a new one then stay tuned because I'll figure a way around it for all of us! Viable options may be to bypass the pully and run duel electric fans, (I don't like this idea,) or switching to lhd accessories and running a modified fan / shroud.

i used to have saved, a guy on a jeep forum who engineered 1 and posted the parts he used... but i looked and can't find, must be on a old computer of mine.. have you tried that route?

 

[Unclewolverine]

i used to have saved, a guy on a jeep forum who engineered 1 and posted the parts he used... but i looked and can't find, must be on a old computer of mine.. have you tried that route?

I'm ok at fab work, but I don't think I'm precise enough to build a new one of these from scratch, the tolerances around the fan are extremely tight for a jeep product. I've seen many without a shroud because the motor mounts got wore out and the fan destroyed it.

 

[jaymacgthree]

Take your old bracket to a machine/metal shop and have them fabricate one. It will be pricey but since you don't want to upgrade to a newer vehicle it may be worth it to you. Personally I would be looking to upgrade a vehicle with that age and mileage rather than feed it all of your EMA in repairs but I don't know the situation.

 

[Unclewolverine]

Take your old bracket to a machine/metal shop and have them fabricate one. It will be pricey but since you don't want to upgrade to a newer vehicle it may be worth it to you. Personally I would be looking to upgrade a vehicle with that age and mileage rather than feed it all of your EMA in repairs but I don't know the situation.

3rd generation mechanic, usually love doing my own work. There are many reasons I'm just going to keep figuring out the cherokee. For one, the parts and repairs are generally very far apart, and peanuts to do. I bought an extra transmission for a 100 bucks, just to have it, but im only on the second one coming up on 400k. I just saw another engine for sale on fb for 250 bucks. This fan bracket is the only truly discontinued part so far. Also I have a very long, VERY rough, low volume route. I truly believe an xj is the best tool for the job. I do want to buy a Toyota hiace van as my back up eventually, but its way financially out of reach right now. Only a year regular, table 2, 37h route; I don't make a lot, the extra 80 dollars I profit in ema a day really helps.

 

[muttleycrue]

I had a fan bearing rebuilt by a seller on eBay, more than 5 years ago but it appears they are still in the same business. Their current listings show some brackets along with the rebuild services. I don't know if what they have is even what you need but if you want their ID to take a look I can PM with it.

On a side note, that '96 Cherokee was my favorite mail delivery POV. There was more cargo space than my Wranglers with its wider cargo floor. And better visibility with much smaller blind spots. The thing drove like a tank - which is a good thing in snow, ice and steep grades. But I am not a mechanic in any way, shape or form and could not keep it going. When the transmission went I got rid of it. Someone who did all his own work bought it and probably still has it running.

 

[Unclewolverine]

I had a fan bearing rebuilt by a seller on eBay, more than 5 years ago but it appears they are still in the same business. Their current listings show some brackets along with the rebuild services. I don't know if what they have is even what you need but if you want their ID to take a look I can PM with it.

On a side note, that '96 Cherokee was my favorite mail delivery POV. There was more cargo space than my Wranglers with its wider cargo floor. And better visibility with much smaller blind spots. The thing drove like a tank - which is a good thing in snow, ice and steep grades. But I am not a mechanic in any way, shape or form and could not keep it going. When the transmission went I got rid of it. Someone who did all his own work bought it and probably still has it running.

I'd say maybe it was me because I bought it with a burned up tranny but the carrier I got it from was retired.

 

[MiddleOfNowhere]

i've used electric fans on several vehicles and have had no regrets. you can wire them to come on automatically by temperature, or switch them on manually on a hot day when airflow is low, when boxes are close together. ive got a 97 grand cherokee, that has a clutch type fan on it, so i'm not sure what you are referring to as the bracket?

 

[Unclewolverine]

i've used electric fans on several vehicles and have had no regrets. you can wire them to come on automatically by temperature, or switch them on manually on a hot day when airflow is low, when boxes are close together. ive got a 97 grand cherokee, that has a clutch type fan on it, so i'm not sure what you are referring to as the bracket?

The xj was not originally designed for the 4.0 so there is not enough room for the mechanical clutch fan to be mounted on the water pump. So it is mounted below the power steering pump on its own pully and a thermostically controlled electric fan is run in tandem on the other side of the radiator. I bought a thermostatically controlled triple electric fan set up and ran it for exactly 1 day. Absolutely hated it. The constant cycling on and off were super annoying and it sent a low level harmonic vibration through the whole jeep that drove me nuts, (I'm autistic.) I've been going through car-part and emailing salvage yards that show they have a rhd jeep but, as is par for the course for junkyards, haven't got a response back. The factory set up works perfectly so I just want to repair it.

 

[jimigonz]

Everyone who drives a rhd cherokee lives in fear of the day their fan bearing goes out. Not only does it typically also destroy the radiator, it's a very involved repair, and on top of that the actual part has been discontinued for a long time! A skilled mechanic can press out the old bearing and press in a new one since its actually a bearing for a water pump, (NSK 885586.) But that is typically a 50/50 crap shoot that the bracket is still usable or gets damaged in the process. I've heard about entire jeeps being scrapped for lack of this part.

Mine only made it 393k miles, luckily I shut it down before the radiator was damaged. I managed to bodge it back together with a bearing from a lhd bracket, but my rhd assembly has been damaged in the process and I don't know how much longer it will last.

Does anyone have a line on a 93 through 95 bracket? Even if the bearing is out I would be willing to pay to have it shipped and try my luck again. If I can't source a new one then stay tuned because I'll figure a way around it for all of us! Viable options may be to bypass the pully and run duel electric fans, (I don't like this idea,) or switching to lhd accessories and running a modified fan / shroud.

I ran dual electric fans on my 2000 RHD Jeep Cherokee. And everything works fine. One fan runs with a manual switch the other fan runs with engine temperature gauge.

 

[Unclewolverine]

I ran dual electric fans on my 2000 RHD Jeep Cherokee. And everything works fine. One fan runs with a manual switch the other fan runs with engine temperature gauge.

The other problem is that pully the fan runs on still needs to be run in the belt routing. So the bearing issue still persists.

 

[Unclewolverine]

Welp, she's done for now. Bracket fractured today taking the fan, shroud, and radiator with it. Been calling junkyards off car-part that show having rhd parts; so far no luck. Redneck engineering will be on its way soon!

 

[Unclewolverine]

Temporary repair has been as follows: first I removed all the broken pieces except the bracket itself. Then i determined the length of the belt needed to bypass the fan pully entirely and just go straight from the ac compressor to the power steering pump. Then I installed a new radiator, the new belt and mounted the auxiliary fan. My fan is already on a manual override switch so I can switch it on before the computer switches it on at factory preset of about 215. I used it to run the route today and as long as I turned the fan on in the small city sections, it worked fine. I figure this set up would work well until the temperatures get into the 60s or 70s.

But when it rain it's pours. I had been having issues backing up that I had attributed to suspension, axle, or transfercase; but today I determined its because the transmission is going out :/