Axle Casting Codes

[PaulS]

Here are some pictures from my axles (Dana 25 front and 41 rear).� I wonder if anyone can tell my what they mean.

The pictures were taken right after I sandblasted.� I put the blue tape there to reduce the amount of sand that would get inside in the process, in the absence of a proper gasket.

I can't see any date stampings on the axles where http://www.cj3a.info/tech/datecode.html says they should be.� There is a "6" stamped on one of the "donuts" referred to in that page, but it's in a bigger font.

From the 25:

(Okay, I know what this is--I think it's great my axles both still have their ratio tags!)

This is on the pinion side of the housing:


And from the 41: (the first one has the ratio tag and the 9-65 casting mark--what does that one mean?)



Thanks,

-Paul

[PaulS]

Bump back to the top.  I was hoping BobW would comment on this...

-Paul

[Bob W]

Often times the axle housing date codes are not stamped very deeply so a little rust makes them disappear. Ring gear dates are very easy to read and will yield some great info about the axles. I have not researched the casting numbers but here are some guesses....
The 25 and 41 seem pretty obvious   The 5 digit numbers are probably manufacturer casting part numbers. The numbers with the cast screw heads are probably some sort of date codes. These would have been easy to swap tags screwed to the pattern.

[bretto]

The tag "w 43/8" is the gear set ratio.
43/8=5.375

[PaulS]

The numbers with the cast screw heads are probably some sort of date codes. These would have been easy to swap tags screwed to the pattern.

I wondered about that.  Could 9-65 be the 65th day of 1949?  But that would be superfluous with the stamped date code (which I couldn't find).  And could the 48 on the 25 refer to 1948?  I'll check the ring gears on both axles for those dates to compare.  (How close would you expect the dates to be between the ring gears and axles?  Assuming the ring gear is original, that is.)

-Paul

[Bob W]

I wondered about that.� Could 9-65 be the 65th day of 1949?� But that would be superfluous with the stamped date code (which I couldn't find).� And could the 48 on the 25 refer to 1948?� I'll check the ring gears on both axles for those dates to compare.� (How close would you expect the dates to be between the ring gears and axles?� Assuming the ring gear is original, that is.)
-Paul

The ring gear dates will put us in the ballpark. They should be within about a month or so of the assembly date. The casting date, assembly date, and ring gear dates should all be in the same general time frame, but not likely to be exactly the same.

[PaulS]

Okay, so...

41:  The carrier casting has a 48 on the back.  On the back side of the ring gear it says: "Salisbury 17506 NA153 43-8-Z"  and there's a hand-etched "W" and "F 39".  On the front side is "4-1-49 Z".  I presume that's April 1, 1949.  (What's the Z?)

25:  Back side, hand-etched "34 C B". Front side:  "Spicer 17483 43 8A K87"  And then there's the odd part.  The numbers are punched backwards (How the heck do you punch numbers backwards?): 3-18-49K.  But while the numbers 4 and 9 were backwards, they were in order, while the 1 and 8 weren't.  (So it was actually 3-81-49K.)  I'm guessing March 18, 1949?0

-Paul

[Bob W]

Paul,

So we have the ballpark time-frame of when the components for your CJ-3A were being made, March - April 1949. Usually there's about a 3 month window where most of the parts fall. WWII jeep date codes are much closer together than the CJs. That cast 9-65 could be a Julian date for the center section of the axle.

What was the serial number of your Jeep?

[PaulS]

23833, I think.  I corresponded with you on it back when I got in 2008.  I don't have an original S/N plate--the one on it was made by the PO as a requirement to getting it licensed/insured (as the owner before him had put a repro tub on in without carrying over the S/N plate).  But the S/N on there matches the bill of sale that the PO got from owner before him.

The S/N is 1949, but the registration is for 1950.  The best explanation for that is that it was first sold/licensed in 1950 and that date got attached to it.  Clearly, all the parts seem to say early 1949!  (The transmission says 2-23-49.) 

The engine is not original and is from a CJ2A--although I think it may be one that was made for the MB and bought back after the war by WO (it has the 638632 casting number with the CJ2A S/N on the water pump boss).