I just changed the water pump on my daily driver, a 97 chevy pickup with the Vortec 350. The fan was a total nightmare to get off, and in the process I bent a couple blades and had to heat the pedistal of it with a torch. I bent the blades almost exactly back to normal with pliers.

Now that it's back together and running, I noticed a very slight vibration in the fan. It could have been like that before, maybe all of them are and I wouldn't have it noticed before. I'm wondering if a slightly misbent blade could be causing it, or if heating the shaft might have damaged the bearing inside the clutch assembly.

So..is it normal, or is it gonna kill my new water pump in short order?

 

i'd replace it, it'll trash the water pump sooner or later

 

I'll second ede's opinion.

 

Have you ever seen what happens when one of those comes apart? hehe.... it can get pretty ugly. I'd agree on replacing it.

 

$@%&@%$&@$%

Thanks guys. I was hoping to avoid having to pull that bastard off again, but I guess I can't.

 

REPLACE IT NOW. Preferrably with an electric fan(s) to free up some power and get better cooling along with never having to worry about it again.

If you have never seen what happens when the fan comes apart it is easy to think it isn't a big deal. But at the end of this last summer I was racing a buddy of mine that has a 1972 Nova with a SBC and his mechanical fan came completely apart at about 6000 rpm when he missed a shift. It made a nice big hole in the hood and blew a couple of big holes in both front fenders along with cutting his upper radiator hose ....... It sounded like a friggen grenade went off...... Good thing I had him by a car-length ........

He has two electric fans now - along with that ripped up body work........

 

Well..this is good...a new clutch is $63 and they can't get me a fan blade.

Guess I'll try to see if I can get an "aftermarket" one to bolt up. So much for my OEM virgin truck