Hi Guys ,

I have just bought myself a Flex-a-lite fan & since doing so have had a few people tell me they have a bad habit of breaking off blades.

Has anybody had any experience with this happening ?

Was this a design problem that has now been fixed up & they have no problems with them now ?

Are you referring to the stock steel hub with aluminum blades or the fiberglass version? Regardless; the idea of a fan blade flattening out at high RPM to save horse power is based upon a false premise. It takes that allegedly saved horse power to flatten out the blades, so you actually consume as much horse power as a fixed pitch blade.

Further the fiberglass dose not like being bent, it cracks, and the resin will disintegrate from the constant flexing so the blade will come off (they had to repaint funny car bodies all the time to hide the cracks caused by the constant cracking due to body flex, back before they started using carbon fiber). So from that point of view the design is doubly flawed, flex fans do not work, and the material chosen to make it work fails in use.

A thermally controlled fluid coupled clutch fan draws zero horse power when the car is within the preset heat range that the fan operates, it only engages at slow vehicle speed (which it should not do traveling down the road at speed). The only bad thing any one can say about the design is that it is heavy so you never see one on a drag car (or an electric water pump for the same reason). If your car lives on the street (this includes cars that only go to car shows) then it should have a clutch controlled mechanical fan with a properly fitting shroud. Save the fiberglass flex fans for the drag cars running aluminum water pumps, with tinny undersized radiators to meet class rules.

Larger Dave

Flex-a-Lite is a brand that makes many different kinds of fans. Which did you get? http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/belt-driven-fans.html

A quality flex fan is fine for a low RPM engine. I would not use a flex fan on an engine that will ever see 5000 RPM or more. The faster a fan spins the greater the chance of a catastrophic failure. Chevrolet used thermostatic fan clutches on their high performance engines not only to keep them cool in traffic and free up HP, but also to add a safety factor because at high speed the clutch will slip and the fan will never turn faster than 3500-4000 RPM. The fan clutch will wear out over time. It’s a good idea to replace the clutch with a new one when replacing the water pump.

Years ago I had a stock four blade fan fail at speed in an old truck. A blade broke off and ripped a hole through both the inner and outer RH fender on its way out. The imbalance condition caused the front of the water pump to break off. The broken pump housing and the remaining blades spun directly into my new radiator completely destroying it. It made a hell of a noise.

The fan I got is the 6 blade , steel body , stainless blade type.

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/1300-series-flex.html

I was not really concerned about the supposed power saving by the blades flattening out. I still have the original steel fan on my car & wanted something that looked a bit better.

Those flex fans are NOISY, you are better off with the original steel fan and clutch! If you want a new blade consider the FlexALite 5718 or 5717 blade

Flexalite 5555 Thermal Fan Clutch
FlexaLite 5718 18" Fan Blade

I've been running the Flex-a-lite "High RPM Race Fan", PN 1617 Steel/Steel in my car for the last 2 years!.....I love it!....It looks like the stock black, OEM 6 blade fan, plus I like the fact I can rev up to 8,000 rpm and not worry about the hub shearing off while I'm power shifting!!:yes::thumbsup:

I went racing (test and tune) last night. The temp guage never rose above normal at any time. Loved it. Oh, I turned an 11.90. Hey, I'm getting there. I'm going to quit trying when I have to install a roll-bar. Oops, back to the fan. I'm running my original aluminum 7 blade fan with a nearly new clutch. Perfect.
http://epitomesrebuild.com/images/138.JPG

I had one (forget brand) which had a steel center with aluminum blades. I had a blade break, go through the plastic shroud,dent the hood, and somehow land on the battery... lucky enough it didn't cross the terminals and only took out the water pump and shroud.

Buy a name brand :D

So nobody has had the stainless blades break off ?