During transit, one of the cooling fan blades on our powertrain sustained damage. While it would likely still be serviceable under some situations, we investigated, and ultimately replaced the part with one of Chinese manufacture.
The fan used in our unit is the same for either the 6.2 or the 6.5 NA on the v-belt application 4140-01-211-8403 [4140012118403]. We spoke with representatives of IvyWay Truck Parts https://www.ivywaychina.com/ and acquired a manufactured-in-China fan to test and review.
The original fan is on the left, and the Ivyway fan is on the right. (note chip missing out of blade on original fan). We went over the Ivyway fan with a caliper and could not find any difference between the two other than the Ivyway did not carry the AM General part number:
And that small gussets molded into the base of each blade. (which we determined was an improvement over the original). [Picture yet to be uploaded]
The price difference between the Ivyway and the AM General fan is a factor of about 4 times. Additionally, we feel that the gusset molded into the blades is an improvement and should add additional strength.
We will run the Ivyway fan in our Project: M1038 to determine how well it holds up and report later if we note any issues. We do feel comfortable, however, that the quality is likely on par with the original part, especially since most plastics manfacturing is done overseas anyway. (e.g. carbon fiber bike frames, YETI coolers, etc.)
At this time, we are of the opinion this HMMWV part manufactured in China is as good, or possibly superior, to the OEM part.