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Restoring the rear axle on my 1970 d100; does anyone know if the rear axle housing was painted or bare metal from the factory? I've restored Mopar muscle and fin cars that had the axle housings painted black from the factory, with the diff bare metal with assembly line markings on the bottom.

I would go satin black. They had paint on them originally.

no, axle housings, and brake drums were not painted from the factory. That is so they could dissipate the heat. Paint them and it holds the heat in. Causes premature seal and brake drum warpage.

Why is there such varying opinions on what factory finishes were for these trucks out there?
Perhaps it’s time for someone to write a definitive book on restoring these trucks documenting the factory correct finishes!

fireguyfire wrote:Why is there such varying opinions on what factory finishes were for these trucks out there?

Because they're "opinions" and not "facts"!

This NOS one is painted. Every truck I've owned had a painted rear axle housing.

http://sweptline.org/forums/viewtopic.p ... ead#unread

I used to work in the parts department of a Dodge dealership as well as a Ford dealership and I can tell you from first hand experience that parts in the parts department are not the same as parts from the assembly plant but are still considered factory parts. I never saw an unpainted rear axle assembly in the parts department and at the same time I have seen numerous new vehicles with unpainted rear axle housings. Not that this helps anybody just thought I would share.

Thanks for all of the inputs gents.

Any housing I've seen was painted black from the factory along with the brake drums. The paint burned off the drums after a few hard stops. No high temp paint back then.

You have a choice, Go paint less and watch it rust or paint it and make it nice.