fan carrier bracket advice?

Hi, long time lurker first time poster. I have a 1998 3.4 trd. Bought it from my mother at 80k now at 170k. in that time, I had a timing belt done at 100k. I did brake pads on the front and I changed the alternator. Changed the trans fluid and antifreeze when I did my auxillary transcooler oh and I change the oil. Best vehicle I have ever owned.
I need to do drive belts, and I need to figure out why my fan pulleys are wobbling. I plan to change the fan pulley bracket with the bearings. I know to get the aisin model. Has anybody done it? Oh, probably should change the idler pulleys to while I'm doing it. Had one grenade on my h6 subaru wagon recently.
I'm hoping someone has done the fan bracket swap and has advice. thanks

 

Also, where is the weep hole for the water pump on these? pretty sure it is not the water pump going,they usually leak first right?

 

I'm speaking in generalities here, as I'm not experienced with your situation (sorry).

I assume by your description you have a belt driven fan, with a pulley on the water pump shaft?

If that's the case......... fan pulley wobble is almost always an impending water pump failure.

Weep hole should be on the bottom of the pump shaft housing. It has to be on the dry side of the seal, as the weeping is the indicator the seal has failed.

But where I'm a little confused is you say 'fan pulleys' (typo?) and fan pulley bracket. Not sure what the bracket is either.

Is the fan driven by the accessory belt, but not mounted to the water pump, and the water pump just driven by the belt on another pulley?

As you can tell, I'm trying to help some, but trying to learn too. Any pictures?

 

My truck has two pulleys behind the fan. One goes with the alternator, crankshaft, and the other goes with the power steering pump. Lots of threads on here describing my symptoms call for a fan carrier bracket. It is a kit that comes with some bearings and such all pressed together. I have the exact symptoms as some others as far as sound on cold or humid mornings. Now I have a slight wobble. Not saying it isnt a water pump, but I'm gonna start with the fan carrier bracket bearing set up. That and the idlers. If that doesnt do the trick, I will have a timing belt waterpump etc done. I'm betting on the bearing in the bracket getting worse over time. If I'm wrong, its good preventitive maintenance for 120$.

 

I dont know much about my tacoma because i never have anything wrong with it. I think I can do the timing belt waterpump job my self if needed, but I'm hoping to wait a good long while. We have a better garage and warmer climate situation in the not to distant future.

 

the part is called a fan support bracket. my mistake. it is sometimes called a false water pump housing because it resembles one.

 

Ok, that starts to make a bit of sense. Double pulleys behind the fan were quite common, but usually that's bolted up to the water pump shaft.

So what I'm understanding is this is an assembly to position the fan properly, but it didn't line up with the water pump location, so they supported it by an independent assembly? If that's right, makes sense that would be what the wobble is based on.

The water pump has to be spun somehow. I'm guessing one of the other accessory belts must drive a pulley to do so?

Generally the accessory belts are tensioned by a movable accessory (PS Pump, alternator) or an adjustable idler. So there must be some pulley in place that is fixed for the water pump?

 

The "fan support bracket" does just that, supports the fan. The water pump is independent of the FSB and driven by the timing belt.
Remove the following.....upper rad hose, fan shroud, accessory belts, fan/fan clutch, plastic upper timing cover (careful with the cam position sensor and spark plug wires) then the FSB. It is secured with 2 stud/nuts and 1 bolt. Simple and straight forward.
All the timing belt/water pump stuff will be plainly visible to see what your getting into with that job.

Toyota only sells it as an assembly including the pulleys and the fan clutch for $400+, wholesale. Aisin aftermarket to the rescue.
I pressed this one apart to see whats what.

 

Nice! Glad you came along. While I don't own one, I like learning. Now I'll know what I'm looking at if I have a chance to help a fellow Taco owner of a certain vintage!

 

Thanks so much for jumping in with the photo. That will help the thread. Thanks for the step by step. If I can, I will post up photos as I go. I'm glad to know that my water pump is likely just fine. To be honest, I didn't know going in that the fan shaft assembly was isolated from the water pump. That said, I feel like a ticking time bomb now because if the fan goes, things get ugly fast. I will order the part on monday. Are Gates drivebelts ok for the tacoma? They've served me well on other cars. Also wondering if one brand of idler pulley works better than another? Not really interested in pressing in bearings. Probably a thread on that somewhere. Thanks for the help guys I will post up my progress

 

@dirtypool, have you found this bearing? I'm looking at mine right now. The shaft is stamped with W7R089A. Google brings up a water pump bearing that has an equal amount of shaft on each side.

I'm wondering it the ODs are the same for the bearing and shaft and one end needs to just be cut down to size.

Searching continues....

 

I believe the bearing is a proprietary item not to be found a la carte. The two seals might be "standard" or numbered like ball bearings.
Here is a shot of the bearing itself. Note the shaft is also the race for the ball and roller bearings. The whole Aisin bracket can now be had for around $100.
Historically the Chinese knock off brackets have serious issues with both fit and function. I had one where the flange was a full 1/4" to the rear of it's intended position. The pulleys would hit the body casting. One casting was so bad it would physically not bolt up unless one mount stud was completely removed.
Add to that, an OE housing is mashed or swaged over the end of the bearing to help contain it in addition to the fairly tight press fit.

 

Looks like a candidate for some salvage yard picking from a wrecked 4Runner.

 

do not hesitate on this repair... if the fan and bracketry come apart you are looking at putting a radiator in it too.

 

They have taken out fans, fan clutches, shrouds, radiators, cam/crank sensors/wiring, timing covers and even dented hoods.

 

Easy swap. The Aisin replacement I used was exactly like the OEM part I pulled from the truck, except it had TOYOTA ground off.

Definitely take a good look at the timing belt, bearings, seals, and around the water pump. My water pump was barely leaking, but I believe it and the timing belt had 195k on it.

You might consider removing the radiator to give you some more room in there.

 

Interesting bearing! Thanks for the reply!

 

wow this sounds like me ... 266 months I have driven this truck and nothing ever wrong!
but a gremlin resonating rattle been haunting me for months
its probably just a simple thing as a loose rattly heat shield which will not be a pain on the pocket i don't think

 

Well, it's been over 4 years. We're waiting..............

 

Found Rock Auto is selling the AISIN for $108.79. Then you can use the TW Rock discount.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1871554&cc=1357589&jsn=1083