Aluminum fan: belt fit

[HDowse]

I replaced my steel 2 blade fan with a new aluminum 2 blade fan. The installation was straightforward but when I went to put the fan belt back on, I noticed that the belt did not fit the pulley. Instead of the belt fitting in the pulley so the top surface of the belt is essentially flat with the outside of the pulley (as it is on the crank and generator pulley), it sits about 1/4" high. This means the pulley width is too tight for the belt. It was very difficult to get the generator pulley back on because the belt is now so tight. I won't run the truck with it this way except to move it. I plan to call the vendor today but wonder if others have found this problem?

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

I have encountered this on several occasions and have corrected it by installing it on a shaft and spinning it slowly in the lathe to open the pulley area (it doesn't take much).

While there has been several different issues with these in the past, my personal opinion is that I remember how tense life was when I could not get them because they were 'out of production', so I gladly take them when there are slight problems simply because they are much better than nothing.

[HDowse]

Thanks for the idea, Brent. I plan to call the vendor to discuss the problem but will open up the pulley area as you have done.

[Ken Ehrenhofer]

I have had the same problem and after a few miles the belt is starting to where severly. I guess I will need to turn it down also,
Ken

[HDowse]

I called Bratton's and the fellow there, not Walt, said he was unaware of the problem but would take one of their fan belts and check the pulley. Who knows if the batch Ken and I and others got was done inaccurately? Removing the new fan and putting the old one back on the truck took half the time as it did installing the new one the first time.

[steve s]

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Here's what happened recently to a friend. The pulley came apart.

Steve

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by HDowse

I called Bratton's and the fellow there, not Walt, said he was unaware of the problem but would take one of their fan belts and check the pulley. Who knows if the batch Ken and I and others got was done inaccurately? Removing the new fan and putting the old one back on the truck took half the time as it did installing the new one the first time.

Just so you know, Walt is not the one that is making these. I realize you purchased it thru Brattons but other than giving Jeff some feedback on them, it really is not going to help you any. As I eluded to above, there has been intermittant problems with these on-and-off for the past several years from drooping blades, ...to the inside of the pulley area being machined too small, ....to balance issues, and taper issues where they mate onto the pump shaft. Many of us realize there is an ongoing problem but sometimes you look at the options. In your case, I would just send it back back and ask for an exchange or refund. For me, since we restore 10-12 vehicles a year, I generally need more than 10 of these units a year. Not too long ago we went for better than 6 months without any of these aluminum units available. While it is frustrating to purchase one of these units and find you must perform alterations to make it usuable, --it is even more frustrating when you cannot get anything and your option is to use an original that will likely fail, ....or use something that looks totally unauthentic and causes ridicule.

It IS cases like this where I feel a customer would feel very obliged to pay $150.00+ for a new reproduction steel fan that performed as it was originally intended and looked very authentic. Cheaper does not seem the prudent way after the amount of time has been wasted with this type of aggravation. Something that I thought was amusing was in the recent discussion where someone said that new reproduction steel fans would likely fail too. My opinion is if internal rust is what is causing the fatigue where the fans are breaking, common sense would dictate that in the environments that most of our restored cars are subjected to these days, this would not be an issue for more than our lifetime. Also, in this day of modern corrosion coatings, this issue could be addressed during manufacturing too. Good luck, and I feel your pain!!

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by steve s

Here's what happened recently to a friend. The pulley came apart.

Steve

It looks like he was running an alternator and probably had the belt very tight so the small pulley could grip without slipping. He may have had it tighter than need be.

BTW, I bought an original fan at a swap meet that also had a split pulley like in your picture.

[Doug Linden]

At our club meeting this week a member passed around his aluminum fan to show the broken pulley. Not sure why it broke but obviously they can have problems too.

IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m207/douglinden/BrokenFan.jpg[/IMG]

[Doug Linden]

Sorry about the missing picture. As for the fan, at least no damage was done, in fact he didn't even know the pulley was broken until he removed the alternator.