Earliest 3969341 and Latest 3894860 axles

[bcmiller]

Thanks Rob!

[rspallina]

No problem Bryon - any idea why this date was on opposite side of the 860 casting location where the foundry stamp would be. And as a follow-up to my thread, where is the 341 casting number?  We can't find it in the spot where they are on the 860s.

[bcmiller]

Rob, if the axle is installed in the car - the casting date is normally in the vertical "webbing" area on the top left or top right of the center section.  You will see it looking from the back of the car forward.  May not been in exactly the same place on every axle.

Casting number is normally on the front part of the lower "webbing" on the drivers side.  See this pic.

Edit:  To clarify wording and add back photo.

[rspallina]

Bryon - the casting date was opposite side on passenger side where pics show foundry to be. But those pics reference an 860 casting and not 341. Darell and I did an extensive search and never found the casting number in the place it should be. Is it possible it wore off...jerry has it in the report. Thinking with these 341s that they, like the cast date, may be opposite side or different spot altogether.

[rspallina]

Found a Google image of location and just found it 3969341NF...driver side of lower pumpkin facing forward. Maybe you have a new note...casting number location and casting date on 341s not in same location as 860s?  At least based on my location and the pics on this site of the 860s

[lynnbilodeau]

Because of the circumstances, this probably doesn't help you much.
3
41 Cast F 28 9

No assembly code, and never had one.

My car is an 08A car, 671122.  I do not believe the axle is original to the car for several reasons.

[bcmiller]

Thanks Lynn.  Yes I do remember talking about your housing, which is probably a service replacement. 

Actually the casting date for the 341 housing does help.  The latest 860 housing we have so far has a casting date of F 24 9 (which has a 3 letter ratio code) and your 341 housing is only 4 days later than that.

[bcmiller]

I am curious, of those that have the "C" stamping on there rear end, does anybody have the protecto plate showing the "C" as well?

I don't think you will find that on any POPs.

[bcmiller]

And for what it is worth, I have a pic of a 1970 Chevelle POP.  Axle assembly date is September and the engine assembly date is November.  The engine code and the axle code on the POP are both 2 letter codes. 

[lynnbilodeau]

Austin,
The axle stamp does not appear to be like other typical stamps that we have seen due to spacing. I know a lot of the history of your car is known, but it is not a typical stamp.
To help reduce possible distortion of the data, it will not be included with the other data gathered until other stamp photos corroborate it as a production anomaly.
Thanks!

Kurt another piece of info that you may want keep as a side note is John Berry's 08A car has a correctly dated rear end with the original axel tubes, but does not have any stamp present. I know originally it was thought that it was a replacement that happen to fit date wise, but maybe the time frame of early August of 69 there was something weird going on with the rear end stamping process? It would be nice to find more cars between his and mine that have there original rear end stamp.

I did not know this about John Berry's  Z.  It is same week (08A) and only 86 numbers after my car.   I know of several similarities, and talked with John back in the 90's when he still owned the car.  I am curious how certain it is that the rear is original.  Seems strange that are cars are that close and NEITHER of them has the assembly stamp.   I have always just assumed mine was replaced.

[bcmiller]

Lynn, have you checked both axle tubes to see if the stamp might be somewhere other than the typical location? 

[lynnbilodeau]

I have been all over it.   Even put a micrometer on it to make sure it hadn't been filed off and then sanded down smooth.
Other than not having a stamp, here is why I always believed it to be a service replacement housing.
The original round pinion snubber has a chunk missing.  When I pulled the gas tank, and found the date code, it was dated Jan of 1970.
So, I always assumed there was a catastrophic failure that took a chunk from the snubber and knocked a hole in the tank.

I don't believe the car has ever been out of Oklahoma.   Shipper report confirms it was sold here, but no one has figured out which dealer.  Normally, an Oklahoma car can be traced back to day 1.   But, as luck would have it, mine is one of the few that cannot be traced back.  The Tax Commission (the agency which handles titles in OK,... think of the DMV in most states) lost large portions of information when they changed computer systems in the late 70's.   They don't even have a record of my original purchase in 1976, nor my brother's in 1975.

Attached a clearer shot of the date, as well as a shot of the axle tube.

[bcmiller]

Your idea of catastrophic failure makes the most sense to me based on the things you mentioned.

Definitely would like to have more data from the June to September 1969 timeframe.

[BULLITT65]

Your tank is actually spot on. Our cars were produced right when a switch to the 70 model would have occurred. Hence your gas tank dated 1 70. (Mine is dated 2 70). If you go to the gas tank thread you will see you actually have the original correctly dated tank in your car.
Unless you have other evidence, I doubt there was a catastrophic accident....Maybe there was no accident at all..

[bcmiller]

I was not aware of the gas tank date thread. Thanks Austin.

Lynn, there could still have been a failure though. Any other signs of that? Dents or signs of repair?

Again we need more data from this time. I have not run across anything unusual from the axle plants for full size or Chevelles. Yet.