fan clutch oddity......

back this winter, before i replaced my head gaskets, i took a shot at replacing the fan clutch, just to eleminate a cause of my overheating. i called around, and found one from a 99 trooper. so off with the old, and on with the "new used".
this clutch seemed to spin the fan much "harder, or faster" and the roar from the fan made me feel the air much more.....and it sounded like a much bigger engine....the clutch was definatly doing "more" it seemed.
so driving, the truck seemed to loose some performance, some zip. and again, the roar of the air moving thru the fan was really loud! not obnoxious, just moving alot of air. plus my overheating was kinda better.
( sorry so long....)
eventually i had to replace the head gaskets, but i kept the fan clutch in place.
fast forward to july 8, 2011
i pull into gas station, and as im walking out, there is a pool of oil the bigger than a basketball! luckly i knew what it was, checked the oil, added some, and got to the garage. (the seal around my drivers cam pops out about once a year)
when i had it all tore down, and fixed the problem, i thought about the fan clutch, and sense that wasnt the cause of my overheating problem, decided to put my old origonal clutch back on.

OH MY GOSH!!!!
the performance i had lost is back! it feels like the truck is 1000 lbs lighter with 50 more horsepower. it is so freeking zippy again.:dan_ban:
dont know why, but it even FEELS like im getting better gas milage, (which has been terrible since the head gasket ordeal)

anyway, the vx that i REALLY love is back! i just thought the engine was looking into the sunset of its life.....

the clutch was marked 326-58184 1999 trooper


go figure, im just glad performance is back:_confused

I guess I'm wondering how a fan clutch could make such a difference? I'm talking the shifting is better, and I can hear a throaty growl again as I give the truck gas. I'm just floored at the difference!

Any ideas? Not so sure that we should think that a 99 trooper fan clutch should be used to replace the vx fan clutch.....

The clutch is designed to slip when the temperatures are "normal", and only engage fully when required for additional cooling. Under normal conditions you would not have the drag of fan taking power from the engine, and it should therefore feel more "zippy" and less noisy. It sounds to me like your VX fan is working properly, whereas the Trooper fan was either malfunctioning, or it's design is not compatible with the VX. You should be able to tell the difference in the amount of force required to turn the fan by hand. If it doesn't slip at ambient temperatures, it's not working correctly. Testing under "hot" conditions would be more difficult. If you're no longer overheating, then you are golden.