Rear axle stamped number

[Tony Hillyard]

Good Evening Everyone,

I have just been replacing the rear axle in my 1928 Standard Roadster and noticed a number/code stamped on the diff housing.

It is stamped "R8".

Any idea what this means?

[DaWizard]

From the information I have, it says the rear end was for a Roadster with 8 leaf spring. This is according to Steve Pluck's information on the letters and numbers found around the Model A.

[Tony Hillyard]

Thanks DaWizard, that makes sense. Tony

[DaWizard]

THE REAR FRAME STAMPING CODES
Another interesting set of codes that one may find on the chassis is in relation to
the number or Rear Spring Leaves that were originally used when the chassis
was assembled. It has been thought that these stampings were used to correlate
the number of leaves in the rear spring with a particular body style for which was
going to be assembled to the chassis.
Mr. Carl Biederman from Anoka, Minnesota had found several of these codes on
various Model A Ford chassis with some letters followed by a number for which
was stamped into the rear areas of the vehicle. The areas for which Mr.
Biederman has found these codes are as follows: 1). Rear end axle housings; 2).
Top of the rear frame cross member and 3). The right rear corner of the rear
frame cross member.
The following list may be incomplete and may not have been implemented by all
the assembly plants for all years.
STAMPING BODY STYLE REAR SPRING LEAVES
R7 Roadster Seven (7) leaves
C8 Coupe Eight (8) leaves
OCPU0 Open Cab Pickup Ten (10) leaves
T0 Tudor Ten (10) leaves
TS0 Town Sedan Ten (10) leaves
FD0 Fordor Ten (10) leaves

[Dave in MD]

These stamps were a way to make sure the rear spring had the correct number of leaves for the body that was being dropped onto the chassis. I think the only assembly plant that used these letters/numbers combinations was the Twin Cities.
Dave

[Tom Wesenberg]

My 1928 Phaeton was built in the Twin Cities Ford Plant, and has P8 on the rear crossmember, which means Phaeton 8 leaves.
I wonder if the R8 is for Roadster with a rumble seat, since the standard Roadster I thought came with a 7 leaf spring?