After taking my 85 4runner to a shop to do a head job, they reported
to me that the stock fan clutch was going out. In the 4wheeler spirit I decided
to use this as an excuse to upgrade.Requirements:
I wanted something that would cool better and a little power gain wouldn't hurt either.
I found a write up on off-road.com about an electric fan made specifically for toyotas
from flex-a-lite. The benefits of an electric fan is that you can stop it when you cross
water so that the fan and radiator don't get in a fight, than and an electric fan when
properly setup only runs when the engine is hot. I found it in the summit catalog for $220,
ouch...but I went for it.Installation:
Relatively easy, however I was at the time of instillation
a wiring novice. The fan mounts up into the stock shroud location using the stock bolts
in fact, the fan replaces both the fan and shroud. The instructions kick ass and are
simple and easy to follow. However I'm so suave I was able to screw them up.Overall Impression:
Power gain? Not really, the stock fan doesn't take that much power. The only difference I
noticed was in the hill climbing at freeway speed area...this is minimal at best.Regrets/Problems? Wiring: After several false starts this is what I ended up with. 
Quick Disconnects:
I used a semi-professional style clips that make taking the fan out much easier
than the guess and check method. I also used the clips on the switch end again for easier
removal. However, these clips run around $5 for a pair and are a huge PITA to setup properly
(I had Kev do mine because electricity and me don't get along)
Circuit Breaker:
Also wire the circuit breaker up high, not low...otherwise you will get it wet playing
in the mud, fry it and drive yourself insane trying to figure out why your fan keeps
dying...not like it happened to me...on the way to the desert.... By the way keep a
spare it's a good idea.
Power Source:
At first I wired the power into a non-ignition controlled power source, the horn I believe
in the fuse box. This is a great way to cool the engine down quickly, however the fan is
quite loud (unless being drowned out by an running engine) and there is the issue of
power drain. The fan likes to click on and off over about 15-20 min which is quite
annoying. We would like to remind each other that the fan was on by yelling "Your dryer is
on!" while out in the desert. I switched to an ing. source, life is much nicer now.
Switch:
For a control switch I used a factory switch that I put in the "clutch start cancel"
spot on my dash (don't have this option). Originally I had a simple two position
switch, for "thermostat" and "off." I didn't like this because when the fan wasn't
working properly and I wanted to test it, I would have to turn on the AC.
I finally settled on a three position switch. One "off" another "thermostat" and
the final one "always on." I used a auto tranny switch that I yanked for $5 from a
bone yard, nice and colorful too.
Indicator Light:
You will definitely want to wire up an indicator light it makes life so much easier.
I simply ran a wire from the positive line that goes directly to the fan motor, to
the right of the dash switch and back to ground. This is a great $2 way to monitor
your fan.Other stuff I regret:
DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR OLD CLUTCH FAN. Keep the stock fan as a trail spare, I
learned this the hard way after I broke the fan blade and shelled out $35 for a worse off
stock one from a bone yard.Final Advice:
I also highly recommend getting an accurate coolant gauge. Otherwise you worry when your fan
doesn't turn on for what seems like forever.Fit Issues: 
I also had a problem after running this fan for about a year. For some reason after I put
my rebuilt engine in the idler pulley bolt for the power steering started to interfere
with the fan blades. I finally got smart and cut most of the bolt off.
I thought I had the clearance issues fixed, but the fan hit again, this time sending a blade
into my radiator, and I was having troubles with the thermostat controls. I got fed up and
called up summit racing and because
summit
kicks ass they sent me another entire fan no charge even though my warranty ran out. This
time I busted out the angle grinder and ground down the idler pulley thinking this would
fix it.
I hit the fan in desert yet again, this time it's not the idler pulley it's the AC compressor.
When I originally swapped in the fan I was worried that because I had the deeper 3-core
radiator I might have fit issue. However, I measured (I know I'm crazy) and the brackets
are the same depth (about 2 3/4"), so their shouldn't be any fit issue with the 3-core.
Read that last sentence again, yes it's not the 3-core that's causing the problem. Some
4cyl radiators are built on the same brackets as the V6, apparently mine is one of those.oFixing the clearance issue 
There are several ways that I could have fixed the problem, remove the AC, move the
radiator forward, swap in for a thinner fan*, or ditch this entire fricking mess and put
the stock (and toyota reliable) clutch fan back in.
*interesting side note, I did some research and found that Flex-a-lite makes another fan
that had the same dimensions as the Black Magic #165 but it was about 1/2" thinner, I
believe they were for Jeep TJ's. However they would not warranty my "Toyota" fan
saying that it was my fault as the installer to check for clearance issues. Sorry I guess
the box didn't say "Fits Toyota 4x4's" and I wasn't about to throw another couple of
hundred bucks into a less efficient fan.
How'd I fix it you ask? Well after being quite fed up with Flex-a-lite I gave up on
my ideal of not hacking fan and destroying any possibility of getting a refund, so out
came the angle grinder. I cut some holes in the brackets and removed the padding from
around the blades. I cut as much as I could, however I had to limit the amount that
I could move the fan forward because the fan motor would rub against the radiator, bad.
So I decided to mount he fan in crooked so that I could maximize the clearance of the
AC compressor. I hope this will fix any clearance issues, if not I'm going to burn the
stupid thing, and write a really bad letter to Flex-a-lite.Conclusions:
Would I recommend this to someone else? Well let's see, it didn't fit and isn't
reliable, shit, ignore this warning and go out a spend $220 on one. I've heard
that you can custom fab up
other manufactures electric fans, the "Taraus fan" and I also heard about some
Subaru fans but this would take more wiring knowledge especially if you wanted to
have the options that the Flex-a-lite has, like thermostat controls. But in reality
the stock fan is quite effective and reliable, keep it an worry a lot less.
We have several desert traditions, one of them is that I will have something go wrong
with my fan. Wires falling off, the blades breaking the circuit breaker failing the
thermostat controls dying.... That's 8 out of 8 failings, not the type of parts I
like to have on my Toy.
When Kev and Bumpass and I finally decide to make our own fans we will make the control
box remote, so that you can swap in your trail spare without cursing up a storm. Also we
will mount the fan blades closer than the motor to the radiator for better cooling.
We would include a two speed option, and best of all we will make it fit what it says
it will fit, I know I know we live in a fantasy world.Back to Words |