MTFCA Forum

Can anyone tell me why my fan would just fall apart while just driving? It is a 25 engine in a 13 Model T. Not sure if the fan came from the 13 or the 25.

You're not giving us much to go on.

Do you mean the blades fell off?
Or the fan itself fell off the shaft or pulley?
Or the whole dang thing fell off the front if the engine?

How old do you think it was. Fell apart as cracked blades or loose screws holding onto the hub or....?

There are at least 4 different style blades most crack near the center hub. Likely from repeated stress of the blade bending from the air flow when spinning at different RPM's over its lifetime.

[image][/image]I am not sure how old the fan is but likely very old knowing the history of the car. The hub that the blades rivet to broke in three places. I am trying to send a picture but I am not sure how to attach it.

20241010_142509.jpg

If that is all that happened, you are lucky. It could damage the radiator, the hood, or someone standing in line with the blade.
Norm

Sadly it did damage the radiator. I am just trying to learn what might have caused it so it does not happen again. Also I am not sure which year of parts to buy.

Common problem. Common result. This is a weak spot on early T's that must be checked after purchase & monitored.
The fan blades may have been poorly re-riveted or worked loose. The flange can be cracked from the rivet job or from the original rivets being loose.
Options.
1) Langs sells a new replacement. Have them rivet the new blades on.
2) find a later steel hub fan & pulley thats in good shape.17-19?
3) Buy the new, later style 20-27 style ball bearing replacement with the late style fan. You may need to trim the fan down to fit a brass car.
This is the more reliable way to go. Depends on how original you want to stay. I went with option 2 for my 14.

The age and fatigue can stress fan blades, and make them bust up over time.

Cracks can develop around rivets, and cracks that propagate to fracture. Anytime an engine is running, a fan blade can fail. Many have done that. A new fan assembly is the best protection.


Crack near a fan bolt hole.
Other fan breaks.

Even the Model A two-blade fan can throw a blade!

CLT1246 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 10, 2024 4:12 pm

[image][/image]I am not sure how old the fan is but likely very old knowing the history of the car. The hub that the blades rivet to broke in three places. I am trying to send a picture but I am not sure how to attach it.

This link says how to load them viewtopic.php?f=9&t=30629
You need to wait till the green status bar on the right of the image your loading completes and turns to green check mark. If it results in a yellow triangle with an embedded exclamation mark, it means its too large and the siz needs to be reduced with an app like PAINT on a Windows PC.

Thanks for the info

The brass hub would be on a 1913 T. Later ones with riveted blades had steel hubs. These look correct, and the hubs are not likely to be so worn.

Allan from down under.

I am have trouble relating to the failed fan assembly. A side profile of the brass potion will help as well as the plate with the attacked blades. It looks like it failed at the neck where the plate has the riveted blades. But it also could have been a crack on the plat between two blades that caused all the damage when things came apart. But the material left inner rivets towards the neck doesn't match up to whats left on the pulley, why?

CLT1246 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 10, 2024 3:16 pm

Can anyone tell me why my fan would just fall apart while just driving? It is a 25 engine in a 13 Model T. Not sure if the fan came from the 13 or the 25.

It's 100 years old.

Let's see a photo of the front of the hub.

Does this help? picture of the hub

CLT1246 wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 12, 2024 10:49 am

Does this help? picture of the hub

A photo like these (angle shot). The upper one appears to have had the front plate brazed to the shaft. In looking at the picture you sent looks like tha plate with the blades may have been brazed or worse JB Weld

The flange on the front of the pulley to which the blades are riveted is part of a one piece casting. Yours looks like it was fixed to the hub in some manner, and that fixing has failed.

Frank's photo sows a modern replacement, with sealed ball bearings. Rather than a casting, the brass hub is machined from one piece of brass stock so that it resembles the original ones. Its flange is somewhat more substantial than the original ones.

Allan from down under.

Do not get the idea that the late-style fan is failure proof. When I got my '27 the fan was cracked in two places. The replacement from Lang's was identical (except for the cracks) to the original.

Thank you everybody. I appreciate all the experienced help. I will get the radiator repaired if it can be and then go from there.