Unstamped final drive

[schrader7032]

Has anyone seen a final drive for a /2 (pre 1970) bike without a final drive ratio stamped on the outside? The question came up on the MOA forum:

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.ph ... rive-ratio

[Micha]

Well not a /2, but my R51/3 is unstamped.

[weh8127]

Its probably a replacement. If the final drive had been damaged at some point and a new housing purchased, the new one wouldn't be stamped because the factory wouldn't know what gear set would be used.

[Micha]

Or maybe I need new glasses

[niall4473]

The rear drive which is going on my R67/2 project is unstamped, I think that it may be a pre-war one by some details on it.
Micha, have you looked underneath yours?.
As weh8127 says, replacement cases would be virgin as supplied, and fleet users, such as the Gendarmerie who only used one ratio, would have no reason to mark them up, I haven't seen one such but I have seen a crankcase with a non standard stamping which had a metal tag on it saying it had been rebuilt in a military vehicle workshop, I suspect it had been stamped up with the number of the case it replaced, just to keep things legal, certainly nobody was trying to deceive anyone.

[Micha]

Looked underneath, nothing there.