Flex Fans ~ Good Idea Or Bad?

[YellowRose]

Yesterday, my local Tbird Club and I made the 2 hour cruise to La Grange, east of us, to visit Thunderbirds Southwest and Lance Herrington! We enjoyed a great visit with him, as he told us the history of his love of Tbirds, and establishing his business.

One of the subjects that came up was a discussion regarding the use of the 6 bladed flex fan on our classic cars. He related to us why he does not use them on his classic cars. He had one break apart on him while driving, with those flex blades flying off. They penetrated his radiator, his hood, and tore up the engine. As a result, it led him to offer a 6 bladed non-flex fan which they market. His company also markets the heavy duty sway bar, and the ABS radiator shroud. So if you are in the market for those, contact Lance.

His is not the only story I have heard about this happening to classic car owners with a 6 bladed flex fan on their car. So you may want to keep that in mind when replacing fans...

[RustyNCa]

I have the same story about aftermarket flex fans. Happened at the worst time, on a long 4x4 trip in my Land Cruiser. We were out in the Nevada desert on a week long trip. Blade comes off, goes into the radiator and causes a number of leaks, not really a good thing in the middle of the desert miles from any town or even a "road". One guy in the group said, fill it with horse manure. It actually worked to seal it.

About a year later, my dad is pulling a trailer up a large grade in his old C20 fan comes apart, does even more damage to his truck than what happened to me. Dents in the hood, holes in radiator. Another guy stops to help towing a horse trailer, so we tried the same trick, didn't work as well, but it got us home.

So, nope, I won't run a flex fan on anything I own.

Yesterday, my local Tbird Club and I made the 2 hour cruise to La Grange, east of us, to visit Thunderbirds Southwest and Lance Herrington! We enjoyed a great visit with him, as he told us the history of his love of Tbirds, and establishing his business.

One of the subjects that came up was a discussion regarding the use of the 6 bladed flex fan on our classic cars. He related to us why he does not use them on his classic cars. He had one break apart on him while driving, with those flex blades flying off. They penetrated his radiator, his hood, and tore up the engine. As a result, it led him to offer a 6 bladed non-flex fan which they market. His company also markets the heavy duty sway bar, and the ABS radiator shroud. So if you are in the market for those, contact Lance.

His is not the only story I have heard about this happening to classic car owners with a 6 bladed flex fan on their car. So you may want to keep that in mind when replacing fans...

[scumdog]

What about the abs plastic one piece flex fans?