Yet Another Fan Clutch Thread -- Semi DIY?

[Crashola]

Frequent lurker and first-time poster here. There's lots of great information here about the fan clutch problem. I took my 2002 TB EXT in for service last year because everytime I drove away from my house, the neighbors thought they were being strafed by a flight of F-18s. The dealership updated the software and that seemed to fix the problem. Well, the problem is back and my vehicle is off warranty (it kind of pisses me off that they put a bandaid on a known problem). I wanna do it right this time and I'm not interested in paying a Chevy dealer $700 for what appears to be a 1 hour fix with a <$200 part. I've read the DIY stuff on this site and, although I've done some simple repairs in the past, I'm not confident enough to do it myself. My plan is to buy the part on ebay and pay an independent mechanic to install it for me. First off, has anyone had any difficulties finding someone to do the installation? Second, the OEM parts on ebay seem to run about $50 more than the aftermarket parts. I'm inclined to spend the extra $50 to ensure a quality part. Can anyone talk me into buying the aftermarket version?

Thanks to all. Regardless of what I hear back, you've probably all saved me a nice chunk of money.

[bullethole]

Stay away from aftermarket on this one. This part is too much of a hassle to replace with something that may not work all that well. Besides how can you be sure that the aftermarket part is the same as the new design?
I bought mine off ebay. I bid on two and was not paying attention and won both. One at $120 the other at $40. I installed one and just sold the other for $120 on craigslist. Since this part interfaces with the PCM I would stick with the oem part. Good Luck