Adding a new bracket The way the heater fan is mounted is marginal at best. The weight of the fan pivots from the two plastic tabs and they eventually break. Most glues don't seem to really hold well enough and it still doesn't solve the instability problem. Another support is needed, preferably at the motor end to stabilize the assembly and prevent the rocking. I made a bracket to connect the front of the motor (using one of the motor assembly bolts) to the top edge of the fender liner (using the existing hole that the fiberglass fender liner will attach to). I found that a Simpson Strong Tie 20 gauge strap (12" X 1") works perfectly. These are used in making decks and available from Home Depot. Its galvanized, strong enough to be rigid, yet easy to bend and fabricate, costs less that $1 . Plus one strap will make both brackets. Fabrication is simple. Cut the strap in half, make some bends to adjust for the angles, trim the ends and paint it black. I could even use the existing holes in the bracket. You may have to adjust the orientation of the motor housing and rotate it 120 degrees to get the mounting screw on the top. One of my motors lined up and the other needed this adjustment. Taking the motor apart is fairly straight forward and gives you a chance to check the brushes, clean the contacts and lube the motor shaft (use oil designed for electric motors or 30 weight non-detergent oil). When the fender liner is installed the screw will go through the liner first, then the bracket and then into the screw clip. This one reinforcement really secures the fan and prevents the wobble. Broken tab reinforcement Two of my tabs were broken and glued and then broke again. I had seen a post where someone had made a sheet metal circle and rivited it to the back of the motor. New mounting holes were then drilled in the sheet metal. I modified this by making a sheet metal circle with tab extensions that wrap over the existing tab to hold it in place, even if it is broken (I did glue it again with superglue to keep it intact). Then, a hole is drilled on each side of the metal and the screw inserted (I used longer stainless steel screws). It does take some careful trimming with tin snips to get the tab narrow enough to fold over, but it allows you to reinforce the existing tabs so they should not break, especially if used with the above brackets. Here are some pictures of the process. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
