Carrier Fan failures

[Lynn Eades]

I am interested to know about the failures where the generator and fan assemblies fall forward and chew up the radiator. I recall this happening to a couple of local carriers in the last few years and I wonder what actually fails.
I believe the failure is common across the carrier family. Australian pattern carriers have failures and they have no fan extension. They just use Commercial Ford standard parts.
I am aware that the stud in the front of the manifold breaks and that there was an upgrade in the stud.
I am also aware that there was a girdle fitted as standard to later British carriers to stop the whole assembly falling into the radiator.
Questions:
Who has had this happen and can report on what failed?
Does the manifold also fail?
Is the cast iron (original) stronger than the alloy manifold?
Is fan blade failure a primary cause (does a blade coming off, cause the stud to break?)
I understand that riveted carriers are good at shedding fan blades?
Some manifolds have ribs running back from the front while others (maybe early?) don't.
Any feed back on this would be appreciated.

[The Bedford Boys]

Cracked inlet manifolds and broken mounting studs seem to be the common causes. Years of over-tightened fan belts or unbalanced fans won't help the situation. Also generators with bent armatures adding vibration is no good too.

I added mesh to the back of the radiator on my LP2 when I did it, to give a bit of protection should the generator wish to take a flying leap. Have seen radiators taken out of old flathead powered trucks that have mesh and even rod rolled into a circle added for protection, so the idea isn't a new one.

When I do my next flathead, I'll be crack testing the inlet manifold.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Thanks Lynn, now I have one more thing to worry about!!

I note that on Canadian carriers the four 1/4" bolts holding the fan onto the pully are wired through their heads to keep things in place.

[Andrew Rowe]

I have seen the forked section of the generator mount cracked off and into a NOS radiator, so crack testing is not a silly idea in this area. We also install mesh screens as standard to protect our radiators. Cheers Andrew.

[Darrin Wright]

At Corowa Military Veh Rally approx 5 years ago, I had the shaft of the generator spin within the cast pulley chewing it our. The blades and pulley had a bit of a wobble, but the nut held it on. I think the blades started to touch the main lead to the diver helmet distributor (I have the Macs Auto modification so the coil is remote). What alerted me to the failure was the noise it made.
I think what may have caused this was multiple rebuilds over its life span and a hard shaft in a soft cast pulley.

Regards

[Perry Kitson]

I have seen a number of the aluminum intake manifolds fail. A rather large portion of the casting breaks out, allowing the fan and generator to fall forward and work it's magic on the rad.

Perry

[rob love]

I had to replace the intake on a carrier at the museum about a year back. It was only missing the side edge of the guide that held up the generator. I tried it like that, but it quickly lopped over to one side. I replaced it with a steel intake.

Bill Gregg's mk2 carrier is sitting on display at the main museum, and has the generator leaning forward. As the carrier is a static piece (and has been for the last 30 years), I have not gone any further into it. But as I recall the whole forward portion of the intake has broken off.

[Michael R.]

Originally Posted by Andrew Rowe

I have seen the forked section of the generator mount cracked off and into a NOS radiator, so crack testing is not a silly idea in this area. We also install mesh screens as standard to protect our radiators. Cheers Andrew.

There are multiple failure points.

[Michael R.]

Substituting a flat washer for other components, not using updated locking plate leading to incorrect positioning, installing on manifold where the locating shoulders are cracked or missing. Failing to check the nut assembly.

[kosbie]

Does anyone have a source for the locking plates?