Cooling fan question..to replace or not..

I started to do that, but decided it was not worth it to me. As soon as I got to sliding that piece back off the original connector it did not want to go over the retaining tabs for the piece that holdes the water seals in. I am not sure why. It is almost like something warped on the original and I was going to have to break the tabs so it would slide over. I then decided I did not want to pull the pins out of my new connectors anyway and bend on the retaining portion of the pins so I just didn't do it.

You would think they would just put that part on the connector since the fan has a spot for it to slide into and connect to it, but you would also think the new fans would come with the mounting tabs I guess. Manufacturers cost savings I suppose...

It was just easier for me to make a hole and zip tie it. It can be done as you said though for anyone that wants to as long as you don't mind popping the pins out of the new connector to dissasemble it. If it won't slide off, breaking the tabs of the old connector should not matter anyway if your fan is bad. You can just cut the wires off the old fan too instead of wasting time pulling the pins out of the old connector.