Engine fan problems

[nplenzick]

A few weeks ago I notice my engine fan was missing part of two blades. This is the second time this has happened. The first was two years ago when the pieces of the fan damaged the radiator, this time it damaged the inter-cooler. The first time we ( my repair facility and myself) discovered a small piece of the fan guard missing which is pretty much a wire cage. This time there were quit a few pieces of that cage missing. It seemed to both of us that this fan cage was causing the problem. It appeared lightly built and we think that the welds just broke and part of the cage hit the fan. We have now removed it when the new fan was installed. My question is should I make some sort of guard to protect from road debris from being sucked up causing another failure? My repair facility doesn't seem to think I need anything as they have said the rarely see this kind of damage to MH's and most do not have this fan guard. Getting ready for another trip, any idea's?
Also I would like to thank Monaco support for giving me the vendor part # since they didn't have any in stock. This fan blade was made by American Fan which you can not order from as they only deal with distributors, however they gave me the one closest to me which was Ross equipment 1-800-290-9798 in NJ. They didn't have one nor did American Fan but they got American Fan to make me one on a Friday Morning and ship it out that afternoon. Two thumbs up to these two fine companies. Just for your info these fan blades are not supplied by the engine manufacture but the coach manufacture.

[Diplomat Don]

nplenzick........After reading about your issue, have you ever checked the motor mounts to make sure the engine isn't lifting and hitting the shroud.

I'm guessing that what you're calling the fan cage, I would call the fan shroud. Your's must be a different design if it's more like a cage. Mine is a fiber shroud. All the shrouds I've ever seen extended to the edges of the fan blades, in a round tube fashion, and collected air from the fan and delivered it to the radiator.

If yours is just a cage and now has been removed, you might want to use a piece of flat (sturdy) mesh and make a screen at the base of the radiator/fan blade that will keep the engine/fan from sucking up debris and throwing it directly into the blades.

My coach has the large mesh screen under the entire engine and the fan shroud, but I still get large pieces of paper and leaves thrown against the radiator.

[Pusherpilot]

If you have a rear radiator coach and have removed the shroud your engine may well overheat. I had a 2000 Safari Zanzi with a 300 Cat rear radiator. the clearance around the fan to the shroud was about 1/2 inch!
Ron

[nplenzick]

Thanks for the replies. What was there really wasn't a fan shroud, it did not direct air at all to the radiator. Think of an old swivel fan that you might find at a garage sale and the cage that surrounded it. That's pretty much what was on there. It was attached directly to the motor, most fan shrouds that I know of are attached to the chassis. The motor mounts are fine. This is a pretty big fan, 9 blade 30" diameter. The motor doesn't even come close to getting hot no matter what the temps are and what traffic or hills I'm encountering.
I think I'm going to try fabricating some heavy gauge wire mesh like Don suggested to help keep things from being suck in.

[Clonetrooper]

Road debris/hazards I fear in my area are deer, truck tire pieces and plastic bags. I remember my dad crawling under his Caddy to get a big plastic bag wound around his driveshaft. I see plastic shopping bags blowing down the highway all the time. I try to avoid them in all vehicles I drive. Would rather tangle with a drunk/bad driver, the front or sides of my DP get banged I can probably still drive away and sue. Catch a bag or plastic in a fan and it would probably tear up fan and radiator. DRT .I have good guards but I still watch as well as I can because if it can happen it'll happen to me..