How close is too close?

foreman1063

foreman1063

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Location
Raleigh
Trying to put a shorter but thicker aluminum radiator in a TJ but the fan clutch is closer to the radiator than I think it should be, about 1/4".
What's the minimum safe distance between the radiator and the fan/clutch?
 
Ive read on a normal setup to leave at least 1" but on an offroad rig of any kind where the body/frame flex is more pronounced I would probably want more 1.5 to 2" if it was mine. If there is no shroud the fan should be as close as possible to help it pull air through the rad. and not around it, but with a shroud the fan should have .5 - 1" clearance around its outer diameter and be located fore-aft half in and half out of the shroud.
 
Wow...1/4 is too close in my opinion. I would say 1/2 an inch would be a lot safer. It also depends on what your plan on doing with your tj? a dd with mild offroad then u might be ok.
 
varner32492 said:
i would think closer to 1" would be best but i run electric fans in all my rigs so i dont have to have that problem:D
Click to expand...
yeah i agree...get u an electric fan and be done with it...but it all boils down to what u use your tj for????
 
Yep, too close. Maybe you can move it forward some? You will have better airflow distribution if you can move the radiator face away from the fan with an appropriate shroud.
 
1/2" should be sufficient, but more is better. My water pump snout was about 3/8" away from the motor on my electric fan, and they never made contact.
 
I should have mentioned this is not a DD. Also, I have a Taurus fan but even that looks like it is too big to fit in between the radiator and water pump snout. I might be able to cut about 1/4" off the fan nut to gain a little or maybe trim the shroud down on the Taurus fan.
Thanks for the input
 
John, the spal (sp) type elec. fans are a bit thinner than the Taurus fan. Or you might consider 2 fans but both slightly offset to put the motors to the sides. like [Oo] OR worst case maybe the XJ offset fan setup
 
I've got a Novak aluminum radiator in my TJ, and even though it was a "bolt in", I had to eliminate some brackets and bolts so that it would mount directly against the AC condenser. But it does fit with the Taurus fan about 2 inches off of center. Also, the motor doesn't really move much front to back, unless you have driveshaft binding issues that push it around.
 
Good addition that a buddy did on his Commando for when the Fan is close to the Radiator. He mounted a piece of Expanded Steel to the back side of the radiator to keep the Fan from Chewing up the radiator in the event it did touch.

That said, 1/4" is too close still.
 
yager said:
John, the spal (sp) type elec. fans are a bit thinner than the Taurus fan. Or you might consider 2 fans but both slightly offset to put the motors to the sides. like [Oo] OR worst case maybe the XJ offset fan setup
Click to expand...

Looked into the Spal fans. Tons of models that are much thinner than the Taurus fan. The fan I'm thinking of getting is pulling about 2050 CFM. Does this sound adequate for a stock 4.0L?
 
I had about an 3/4" or more between mine on my xj and I floored it in reverse in four low and the clutch hit the radiator. After that i upgraded my motor mounts to poly. With stock motor mounts you want 1" or more for sure. Poly, you should be fine with 3/4"
 
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