The Oddfire Code

I discovered the extra spaces when I was removing my alternator. I realized I could get my hand down in there better with the fan turned just so. Didn't matter, though. I still had to pull the radiator to be able to pull out the long alternator bolt....

 

Mine's the sickly looking 5-blade too ('68 Dauntless). It didn't seem too odd to me--I've seen 'em before.

The blade stripes are actually a good idea for safety, to highlight the blade edges like when doing a tune up or similar as it is quite easy to get your hands nicked by the whirring blades. I think yellow would be fighter plane perfection.

 

Parts manual shows 4, 5 and 7 blade fans for V6, For the F4 it shows 4 and 6 blade fans.

 

Odd spaced fan blades are NOT unique to the Dauntless. Used extensively on many, many 70's to 90's GM engines and other makes as well. Seen them on everything from Buicks to Chevrolets to Pontiacs. As stated earlier for noise and harmonic vibration mitigation.
Also as stated Dauntless V-6's used several different blade numbers and configuration depending on whether normal, heavy duty cooling, or desert applications.

 

I still have the 7 blade fan posted by zoomer. It came on a V6 Commado that had under dash A/C. Not sure if the A/C was factory as it had a Tecumseh 2 cyl compressor.
-Donny

 

I'm a late learner in a lot of fields, so it's no surprise that I just now noticed this.

 

I was going to paint my blade tips yellow, or even some day-glo color, for safety. My radiator has no shroud, and I'll admit it, I'm just the kind of guy who can concentrate so much on one thing that that I might forget something else. More urgently, I've had to warn a couple of people off when I showed them the engine. They seemed just a little too cavalier with the hand movements. Plus, I'll hand off the Jeep to my daughter some day. So I'm going to try an electric fan. Seems like a simple install, and easily reversible if it doesn't cool as well.

 

Factory 7 blade on mine.

 

Uh oh. Like father, like daughter?

An electric fan is an admirable idea, but at the same time the world has been "less safe" or not "idiot proof" for a century or more, and at the same time not many women were owners and maintainers of their own vehicles, much less 1/4 ton trucks.

I say leave it as-is and just teach her to know the risks, beware of the risks and remain vigilant (you too). Plus, there's no modern cars out there with engine driven cooling fans anymore. It's a sort of quirkiness.

 

............or make a fan shroud to keep fingers or other appendages out of harms way. Might even run a bit cooler. There are many threads on the net about this.

 

This.
CJ's came factory with a shroud but many V-6 CJ's had a fiberglass unit that rotted away or were broken. Make a shroud and that will help cooling and safety tremendously.