I have an elderly friend who raced a Max Wedge car in the 70's, and he collected a lot of MW specific parts when he ran across them. He asked me to sell the stuff for him, and I ran across one piece I'm a bit confused about. He has a crankshaft with a casting number of 2206158, with an 8-bolt flywheel flange. None of the info I've been able to find says that casting had an 8 bolt flange. Any idea as to what it may have been in originally would be appreciated.

Aren't Hemis with 8 bolts ?

Yes, the hemi has an 8 bolt flange. I guess the charts I've seen do say that casting was used in 426 cars from 1963 to 196, so that must be it. That casting was also used in 1971 to 1977 truck 440's, and I believe the trucks also used an 8 bolt flange, so it may have come from one of those as well.

There is NO Max Wedge crankshaft with a casting number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unless your friend had the only Max Wedge in history with a cast crank.

A casting number is part of the mold into which the molten metal is poured to form the casting. Thus, a casting number will always be raised above the surrounding surface.

A forging number is beat (pressed) into the metal being formed into a crankshaft sometime during the forging process and thus will nearly always be indented into the surface.

Let's keep the facts straight. Talking about casting numbers insults a forged crank.

R.

The 2206158 forging was used in various RB motors from '62 until the end of production. The flange could have been drilled either 6 or 8 holes.

Then maybe this is one of those rare forged cranks that has a "number" raised above the surrounding surface, instead of indented.

Like a casting would.

yes, there can be "raised" forging numbers - the point was, A FORGED CRANK DOES NOT HAVE CASTING NUMBERS

Semantics. Valve covers would more accurately be called rocker arm covers. A Xerox copy may not have ever been near a Xerox manufactured machine.

I understand that the numbers on a forging are not literally "casting" numbers, however, they're called casting numbers on more reference sites than not.

In the future I'll try to be more anal when I ask questions.

Don't ever say frame off around here or kitten will be shat out at prodigious rates.

Even if it's a truck

Numerous wrongs don't make a right.

To revive an old post, I looked at a crankshaft this morning with the raised numbers on it. An old guy has it. He used to rebuild engines and would buy crankshaft kits. The box was marked Chrysler 426 Hemi and the part number 2206158 on the box and on the crank. It also was listed like that in a TRW catalog he had there. It had an 8 bolt flange and everthing else was a perfect match for a Hemi crankshaft. There was one problem, the flange end was about 1/2" longer than the crank I took along for comparison. The guy's daughter had sent me some pictures and I noticed something odd, but she was clueless and I talked to the man on the phone about it. He was positive it was for a Hemi. So I took an old crank along for comparison. I'm just curious as to what the application is for this crankshaft. The main seal surface is approximately double the width of a normal crankshaft. It was drilled for a 4 spd and had a pilot bushing in it. What the heck is this for ???? I will attach some pics.

Didn't early big blocks have an extended flange? I think pre 62.

Pre 63? cranks had an extended snout. Probably was an RB crank, and if the holes were not threaded that is exactly what it is.

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=26101

Pre 62

Those are little before my time so how did the crank connect to the flywheel/ flexplate without threads?

Through bolts with nuts?

Yes, same as the old flatheads did. Not sure why they thought that was a good idea back then,

I'm guessing so you could check the torque converter/flywheel attachment nut torque without disassembling the whole assembly. Same kind of thinking that led to left hand lugnuts.

Well, on the flatheads, the nut was on the clutch side of the flywheel and the special bolts had a flat that rode against a ring on the crank to keep them from spinning. So I don't see that benefit there. As for the V8's, I dunno I looked in a 1960 Dodge FSM and parts manual, no real help figuring that out in either one.

Your correct on that, 1962 was the first year of all aluminum one piece BB 727 front case with the shorter crankshafts that had the threaded flanges that use bolts to hold the flex plate or flywheels to the crankshaft along with the converter flywheel alignment ring around the center of the crankshafts to align the flywheel s or flex plates, they didn't fit over the outside diameter of the rear crankshaft flanges like the pre 1962 motor used
The all aluminum case 727 1962 in Dodges and Plymouths and later cars were way better designed and lasted a lot longer with hard abuse than the 1961 and earlier cast iron torque Flyte did: up:

Very interesting.

Learn something new every day.