Differential question

Guys, a couple years ago I had you guys help me identify a rear diff that I was using in a project, we came to the conclusion that it was likely a dana unit out of a stude. Well, I took it apart in preparation for sandblast to get it ready for paint and I decided to replace seals and check all the bearings before I painted. Anyhow, stamped into the pinion was "Willys Morrow Company" My question is, is the same as the dana unit or is it a totally seperate animal?

 

Round 2?!?

 

Need to see a picture, is it a dana 41?

 

I think we figured it to be a Dana 23....

 

jeep (willys) and Studebaker used a dana rear end, yours has obviously been narrowed, do you have a shot of the back? Or a shot of the cover?
I have never seen springs mounted on top of the frame, what are you building?

 

here is a dana 23 and dana 41, close?
different covers, and the 44 was different still

 

I think the frames upside down.

 

If it is the spring pads are welded upside down, LOL

 

then whats the point of running springs? they work by compression don't they? or am I missing something?

 

A death trap it would seem.

 

Yeah, rear housing set up to ride like a pogo stick.Look on almost any leaf spring set-up .Rear end is on top of springs ,not under springs with u-bolts pads at bottom,theres a reason for that.You run it like that the first time you pull a hard takeoff and you will lose that rearend.

 

It looks like upside down - spring over axle.

 

A lot of 9-10 sec. g***er ran in the 60's with the axle below the springs for height reasons and never lost the axle from under the car. Might need a good set of ladder bars to keep it there though.

 

if thats how low the frame sits with no load imagine whats going to happen when they get the rest of the car on it.

gonna have to run tractor tires to keep from s****ing the uhoh parts on the ground.

 

The frame is upside down in the pic, its called seting up the frame width to the spring pads. The project, while O/T is being built using many techniques and methods used on Traditional stuff. I am looking for a pic of the back of the diff now.

 

cool, I use a tape measure.

 

yay I was right.. what did I win? .

 

my unit looks similar to this, but the projection for the gear clearance isn't that big. my cover is almost smooth except for a small raised area for the gear clearance and the fill hole, I can't seem to get my pics from my desktop to here...

 

here is a dana 35 and a dana 44.

 

mine is nothing like a 44, my cover is perfectly round and about 10 3/4" in diameter.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong because this applies to Dana housings for very many years.
Does the casting of the housing have a number built into one of the upper webs?
Stamped name and number on the ring gear?

 

the only stampings on the ring gear say "The Willys Morrow Company" and "7 33" there aren't any stampings on the outside of the unit.

 

Looking back into my PM's, I could not find the one where we ID'ed it, but when asking for other parts for it someone mentioned a Dana 27.... not sure if this is it either as I have yet to find a pic of a 27..

 

The Willys-Morrow Company was a subsidiary of the Willys-Overland Company located in Elmira, New York.

 

Thanks for that, but did they make rear diffs and did they make them for other companies or is this a dana with willy's internals???

 

Round cover, is it an 8.75" MOPAR??

pdq67

 

Mopar 8¾ is a 'drop-out' third member, are you thinking of the 8¼? or the 7¼?
Since it is stamped 'willys' it is probably a 'willys'....

.

 

There has always been substantial out-sourcing in the automotive business. I have no proof, but Dana may have made the housings for Willys-Overland and Willys-Morrow may have cut the ring and pinions for Dana. The differential looks like an early CJ that has been narrowed. There were many itterations of the CJ over the years. This might even be a hy-bred, modified for a particular application. Good luck in identifying it. You might have luck reverse engineering the unit by comparing the bearings and seals to a parts manual.

 

Most of the seals have no numbers at all, and the diff is setup with some odd looking grease zerks for the outboard bearings. There is a felt seal cased in steel just inside the axle housing behind the outboard axle bearings and there was a felt ring seal that was inside the axle cap that sealed to the shoulder on the hubs. The axles are tapered with a 3/16" square keystock about 3" long. The pinion shaft bearing was same design but was a lip type seal but fully enclosed with a rather large diameter spring and no numbers. I have not seen a numbur on any bearings yet, but admit I wasn'treally looking hard. There is a roller type bearing, but not tapered, to support the end of the pinion shaft. It is retained with a rivet. There is also a floating center pin that is slotted to encircle the spidergear shaft, one axle is installed and then the other is installed with .005 play... there are no collars on the axles to retain the bearings in either direction but they are a very tight pressed fit. The outer bearing races push inward on the tapered axle bearings in this unit. I have it temporarily sealed up so I can spray primer, will find out the ratio when I open it back up to finish ***embly...

 

With having found stampings of Willys Morrow, any repair parts needed will be from NOS. NOS may be from places like Boyce or Memphis Equipment. Bearings will have to be ID by dimension and some without promises of finding replacements.
Good luck with your project.