Fan Blade Fell Off! Help!

[undysworld]

I got a call from a friend yesterday, saying that he found his fan belt laying in his driveway. Turns out his fan had fallen off the alternator shaft, and was laying in the tunnel. Considering how difficult they can be to remove when you are trying to, I'm wondering if anybody has an idea how/why this happened by itself?

It turns out that he's missing some parts, such as the nut, the half-pulley and maybe a few shims.

The fan itself is miraculously there, but there is a piece missing on the inner plastic ring approx 2" x 1/4". This looks like an old injury, due to built up dust. I read about folks having fans repaired and balanced by Jake Raby, and am wondering if this is necessary on this fan. I've sent Jake an email. Any other input is welcome about this.

Can anyone tell me what the original compliment of shims consisted of?

Do any of you have a nut and half-pulley (and maybe some shims) from a junker you'd be willing to sell?

Thanks for any help.

[Winter Beater]

call Dennis at Linden Engineering (Golden CO). He is breaking and rebuilding Pinz's all the time. I did see a siezed engine on the ground once ...

[undysworld]

Yup, Dennis was the first guy I emailed, even before posting this here. No reply so far.

[spandit]

I made a new half pulley which seems to be holding up fine. Fortunately, when my original fell off, I kept most of the shims and didn't lose the fan

[undysworld]

Robin,

Okay, I'm curious. How did you make the half-pulley?

In fact, we've still got 3 shims and the fan blade. But I don't know how many shims should be there, and Jake Raby has indicated he's unwilling to spin-balance it, due to concerns that it may have been damaged and explode at speed.

Thoughts welcomed.

Paul

[spandit]

I turned it on my lathe out of aluminium:



It's held up fine. These engine don't spin that fast anyway & there's enough vibration already from other bits of the drivetrain!

[undysworld]

Hmmm... Then the price of his half-pulley can go towards my purchase of a lathe.

Thanks for the photo.