I have one. Could this have come from a truck or motorhome? It has a harmonic balancer that is definitely not for a cast crank motor. The motor has not been taken apart, except that someone has taken the motor mounts and exhaust manifolds.

What are the numbers on the top pad?

thick balancer would point towards a cast crank

i had a motorhome 440 with steel crank,sixpack rods and 213 heads

The numbers on the top pad are J440 and 11 21. There's nothing else there.

I just tore down a J 440 and it had a forged crank also.

I believe the transition to cast was in April, '73...

Balancer tells the story...

What's the block casting date???

I pulled a steel crank 440 out of a '73 Imperial, and have pulled 4 or 5 out of trucks and motorhomes up thru '75 with steel cranks. They all had heavy rods.

Chrysler had a tendency to use up what was laying around. If someone found a skid load of 440 cranks laying around in a warehouse someplace, they would have put them in the next batch of motors.
Such was reportedly the case of the 6 pack crank and rods being used after the cast cranks were originally being installed.

By the mid 70s, there weren't a lot of 440s being installed in anything. Chrysler would built motors bu batch loads, 440s this week, 400 next week and so on (time frames used as a reference only) Then as the specific motor was ordered, someone went and picked one up from the available batch (in simple terms) and it was installed. A batch of motors could have been built and sitting for a while before a new batch was run.

This should get the BS flowing! Gene

I've got two 73 motorhome 440's each with one 213 head one 902 head.one set with cooling holes small plugs,one set with regular plugs no cooling holes.strange

Guess it could be possible in a heavy duty application. A few years ago my old boss had a huge 73 motor home he tried selling me for the motor he claimed was a 440, but I discovered it actually was a 413 with a steel crank.

Any big block with a manual trans, right up to when they quit building them will have a steel crank in it. No cast crank manuals.

Kevin

Cast crank started in mid-73.

All the '73's I have seen in the field had steel cranks, I have one under the bench now. That doesn't mean no cast cranks 440's were made in '73.

I might have just lucked out in my area.

All '73 440 HP motors got forged cranks, the STD 440 could have either cast or forged at random.

This is the subject of TSB 09-01-73C dated October 11, 1972:
"The standard 440 4-barrel engine will be built with either a forged or cast crankshaft. The cast crankshaft can be identified a different front vibration damper and a stamped letter "E" below the build date on the cylinder block identification pad."