dr1553

Everyone,

I'm planning a timing belt change this weekend on my '91 V6. The guy thats gonna be helping me said to check Ebay for a new fan bracket. He had one crater on him before!

I found them for $62 plus shipping but why buy a whole new bracket? Isnt it just a bearing or two that goes bad? I havent had it off the truck yet but It seems that there would be two bearings, one pressed in each end?

Has anyone just replaced the bearing(s).

I had noticed my fan wobbling a very little and there is some bearing noise. I thought the fan was warped causing the wobble and the water pump was going bad causing the bearing noise. But I guess now I know its the bracket getting ready to go. 160,000 miles BTW.

dr1553

Maybe no one has done this before? I'm going to try it. I'll take pics and notes and write up a little how to if it works.

I'm expecting that the bearings might end up costing half as much as a whole new $62 bracket. But I would rather have my toyota bracket with a quality set of new bearings than something made by someone else. I read a few treads on here where some guy said they were of questionable quality.

If it works I'll post it here , if not....I'll post that too.

Jeffires

See how much it all costs before you replace it stock. My fan came loose and destroyed the fan and the shroud. For about the same price as stock parts, I installed an electric Flexalite fan, which I really like.

snap-on

ive sorta done it

but its more than just 2 bearings

the bearing in the front is a roller bearing the bearing at the rear is a ball bearing. (i only know cause when mine went bad i had little bearings everywere.

BOTH bearings are contained in one big 2" long sleave with the shaft attached to it.

When i got my cheep knockoff bracket for $80 i wound up with a spring version and i neede the hydrolic version and the castings are diffrent (if you saw the diffrance you'd understand why the cheep ones dont include the tab area for the hydrolic tensioner as that would make it a much more expensive 3 axis mold)

anyway i pressed the old bearing assembly out of my stock toyota houseing and pressed the new bearing out of the new (wrong) houseing and in my old AL houseing.


you will NEVER find just the bearing assembly as it is a custom/special deal.

(sorry didnt think to take pics of the above procedure)

dr1553

Hmmm....that doesnt sound good. I guess I'll go ahead and order the aftermarket one and try to fix my stock one for a backup. Might end up costing more than its worth considering what your saying.

Is the aftermarket one you got any good? I know you got the wrong version but I need the spring version so I should be ok. I'm mostly concerned with the bearings in the aftermarket one. If they use cheep junk bearings it would make the part worthless. Wouldnt last long.

bamachem

or just go electric...

dr1553

But I would still need the bracket because the accesory belts are routed around it.

snap-on

bingo

funrunner91

i've changed mine, i thought about electric but i dont trust it....my bracket costs 160 but toyota will charge i think 700 bucks, i laughed when they told be that....mine siezed up on me an busted my altonator belt, still had enough battery to get home but the fan did not move so i had to have the heat on....i was 7 miles away from home and barley made it

bamachem

ewwwwwww.... hate to hear that.

^VooDoo^

Had that go out on me as well, Had taken it to PepBoys, but no aftermarket part, Had to get it from dealer, $800 just for the rotorbracket.
Had fan replaced so I wouldnt have it detonate later another $80
Since they were in there , Timing belt, waterpump and thermastat.
This job sacked me $1600 total.

I should have just gone electric and looked for different belts.

Serpentine setup would be nice.

Jeffires

That is outrageous.

dr1553

So is it basically a pipe with a bearing in each end and a shaft running through the middle? If you could get the whole assembly out of the housing couldnt the shaft be pulled out of the bearings and the bearings then pulled out of the sleave?

There is a place here in town that can get any bearing that exists. So if I can get the bearings out they can get me replacements. They are here to supply the chemical co's....eg. Dow, BASF, ect, but will sell to the public. Kinda handy to have a place like that around.

Radyota

Actually, if you go the electric fan route (search Taurus Fan mod) you can still use your old bracket, just cut off the shaft flush with the front of the bracket. Get rid of the pulleys and old belts, and get shorter drive belts for the alternator and power steering. I've found pics of someone's engine on here that has done it, you just gotta search for it!

VAULT - - - Get to it!

sandcrawler

don't feel too badly; i had to do the same thing recently. (i got the bracket subassembly for significantly less) but i had already swithced to an electric FAL fan a month or so prior hoping that it was just the fan clutch and not the bearing...

gotta love the old 'uns...