I was at the farm for the past two weeks helping to get some work done and found to my surprise a complete differential buried in the dirt. My best guess is that it is a 1916-25 housing - who knows how long it had been buried there. Though the outside looked rough, the inside was a treasure-trove of parts. I cleaned up the center section while I was there so that way I could fit it into my Corolla. The axles were in amazingly good shape, as were the spider gears. It still had the original babbit washer, which I tossed, and the steel thrust washers looked good.
When I got home, I took out the outer bearings and sleeves. To my surprise, one of the outer bearings was different than the rest, with the number #2901 stamped on the top and having rectangular, not cylindrical, support posts. Was this a common bearing or not?
Here are some before/after pics of the find, as well as pics comparing the bearing
Jim, how fantastic. Who would have guessed? I am shocked at how well preserved the inside parts are. First one of those bearings I have seen.
I've got some of those bearings. They are from an auto part store like JC Whitney, Pep Boys, or similar. They are likely just as good as Ford parts.