Anyone ever lost a fan blade before?

[Bad Karma]

I did yesterday, scared the bejeebus out of me... I was driving along, someone cut me off, I moved over a lane and punched it. What followed was the most horrible sound I have ever heard, sounded like silverware hitting the floor (only worse)...

I slowed back down and pulled onto a side street. The truck was vibrating pretty bad, but all the gauges read normal, so I drove it back home, not wanting to shift out of drive or shut it off because I didn't know what broke.

Got home and after crawling under and inside everything I finally found a missing fan blade. It grazed the radiator a little (no major damage) and then blew out the bottom of the fan shroud on the way out. Put on a new fan and fan clutch and all is well again (still need to order a shroud, though).

It is amazing how a missing blade can throw off the balance in such a huge way.