Technical 39-40 Banjo bell flange question

I’m trying to select a decent set of bells for my rear end project. Are the flange indents (photos below) something other than damage, and if damaged how concerned should I be? Seems like it would take a pretty good hit to do this…and they are nearly identical. Dumb question I know, but I can’t find reference photos to make any comparison, except for one from a tech thread here (last photo). Thoughts?

 

I would be concerned about using them as is. Looks similar to a situation I am living through right now: a cage bearing self distracted and chewed up one of my housings. On the positive side, there are sleeves available that can be put on post turning down the bearing race surface. This will essentially restore the bearing surface. Some will say the sleeves are great, others may disagree. I’m going with a sleeve to solve my problem.
On another note, an old timer told me they used to flip the right side housing to the left and the reverse for the left side as a quick and dirty fix. I guess this could work for a ‘35-6 rear but IIRC, a ‘39-40 housing has the spring mounts built in making that swap unworkable.

 

That would not slow me down for a second. I have several laying around, I have never noticed that specific spot before but the backing plate center hole indexes on the shoulder. Nothing rotates around it.

 

I'm****uming you're talking about the Half Moon circle inboard of the bolt hole. The bearing surface, Polish it with some emery cloth and keep the bearings loaded with John Deere cornhead bearing grease. It's the Green double stringy stuff.

 

If you are talking about the little notches gouged into the rib right next to the backing plate bolt hole, those are caused when the square headed bolts turn. It always happens. Not a thing to worry about.

If you are talking about the rough surface of the snout where the roller bearing rides, then those might need to be sleeved. They look bad, especially the one pic.

 

Thanks guys, Super helpful!
Yes, the half moon spot by the bolt hole. Glad to know it’s not a deal breaker. The photos are from two sets I have, so I’ll look closely at the bearing surfaces of each, hopefully one set will work. Both are pretty dirty and so possibly not as bad as they seem in the photos.