fan/radiator problem

I have somehow scraped my radiator with my fan blade. This causes a rather unsightly water fountain on that side of the new radiator i have. The scrape is clearly from the fan as its a sweeping pattern at the top of the radiator only. Maybe 90deg sweep scrape and couple pin hole leaks.

I was driving over a dirt mound and scrubbed the underside rather suddenly before i realized it was going to happen. Im just trying to understand what caused the fan to move this much.

Could it be high centered against drive shaft(front/rear?) pushing the rear of the motor/tranny up and forcing the top of the fan close enough to scrape?

I didnt think the motor moved that direction very much?? I have about 1/2-3/4" between my fan and radiator evenly around. Should it be more??

Im just trying to figure how this happened to avoid it again, at least learn what limit of high centering to avoid.

Thanks for any ideas on this.

 

the body moves around and flexes
so does the frame
the rad is attached to the grill
check all your mounts
I would think you're gonna need at least another inch at the minimum on top of what you have now

 

What mounts do you mean? body mounts? somthing else?

http://www.hunt101.com/img/417892.jpg

http://www.hunt101.com/img/417894.jpg

These pics show what it looks like i hope...second pic shows the spacing that is even all the way around.

I changed my radiator from a two to a three row, is this my oproblem? How can i get the distance you mentioned with this radiator?

 

the body is mounted on rubber mounts for flex purposes.
one of those mounts should be directly under the rad/grille area.
the engine and trans are mounted in rubber also; the whole assembly can move around, especially when high centered or in low range when engine torque is higher.
so...you want to make sure everything is aligned and tight to reduce excessive movement.
according to your photo, you will need more clearance; can you spacer be reduced without the fan hitting anything on the engine side: pulleys, belts etc; can you remove the spacer altogether and clear everything ?
unless you can reduce on the fan side or increase the rad side, I think you're still headed for a problem.

 

Spacer removed, it will clear but how close is to close with pulleys and belts? Maybe 1/4" at closest point. These shouldnt be moving around in relation to one another though..right?

I can get two good fingers between the rad and the fan now at the top.

Now i just need to get the Radiator fixed.

 

no, but on hard acceleration the fan blades can flex too

 

True, i just thought that the fan would be pulling away from the pulleys.

Thank you very much, i wouldnt have thought about removing the spacer myself anyway!

 

also, check you engine and trans mounts. 76 and on like you have are know for this damage, cause of weak or broken drivetrain mounts. upgrade to polymounts, imo.

 

Two Words:

ELECTRIC FAN

No Metal Fan to worry about! Electric Fan & Shroud only $40 off of a 1999 Ford Taurus!

 

I did a search on electric fan and found this. Do you have a photo of the taurus fan setup? Is it on a V-6? (upon further review I see that this might indicate you havea 61 with the 4 cyl. Either way does anyone have a suggestion?)

My jeep does not have any fan shroud at all. I am considering removing the metal fan and replacing it with an electric fan and shroud. So if you can tell me more I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Mark