# WHat year did schwinn stop putting dates on the cranks?



## bike (Sep 29, 2012)

tanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## GTs58 (Sep 29, 2012)

I would guess about the time Schwinn finally closed down all their plants in Chicago and totally outsourced their bikes to................


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## jd56 (Sep 30, 2012)

*Schwinns with Wald cranks....why?*

I posted this earlier in another thread so, lets try it here. Seems to be the correct location for the question.

My 49 Phantom has a Wald crank...does that sound correct?
I would have thought all later post war Schwinn Ballooners would have a "Schwinn Approved" date stamped crank??
I was hoping to verify the dating of the bike when I pulled the crank.
Now this is a LaSalle badged Phantom, would that be the reason the crank is a Wald?

Newbie Schwinn guy
JD


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## cyclebuster (Sep 30, 2012)

I have taken apart hundreds of schwinn cranks and have never ever seen a date "stamped" into a crank. I hear about it all the time.  And the Yeti, as well as Nessie.


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## jd56 (Sep 30, 2012)

cyclebuster said:


> I have taken apart hundreds of schwinn cranks and have never ever seen a date "stamped" into a crank. I hear about it all the time.  And the Yeti, as well as Nessie.




But none were Walds?


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## silvercreek (Sep 30, 2012)

jd56 said:


> But none were Walds?




Yours being a LaSalle I would expect Schwinn to do something different other than just a unique head badge. They try to change them up so that they can have their own following in some cases.

It’s kind of like my ’54 Jaguar with a Schwinn head badge that’s different than the others. Why didn’t they just use a head badge that was already being used? Just saying.


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## GTs58 (Sep 30, 2012)

cyclebuster said:


> I have taken apart hundreds of schwinn cranks and have never ever seen a date "stamped" into a crank. I hear about it all the time.  And the Yeti, as well as Nessie.




You're joking right? I've seen AS & Co cranks with year dating in the 30's. 

If you have a Wald crank it could have been changed out at some point. The later Schwinn cranks had SF, SW, SF and then a number for the week and then the two digit number for the year. Wald did make cranks for Schwinn and there castings were SW.

Here's a Schwinn crank dated 1945. Hard to see but it's cast on the far right.


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## Talewinds (Sep 30, 2012)

Hopefully Cyclebuster's comment was made to point out an error in terminology rather than whether or not Schwinn regularly denoted the two-digit year on the cranks..... 
Stamped? No, but the date codes were cast into the crank during it's production, I've seen it most frequently in the Schwinns from the 30's and 40's.


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## GTs58 (Sep 30, 2012)

Talewinds said:


> Hopefully Cyclebuster's comment was made to point out an error in terminology rather than whether or not Schwinn regularly denoted the two-digit year on the cranks.....
> Stamped? No, but the date codes were cast into the crank during it's production, I've seen it most frequently in the Schwinns from the 30's and 40's.





  Must have overlooked that minor detail.  QQ  LOL


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## jd56 (Oct 1, 2012)

GTs58 said:


> You're joking right? I've seen AS & Co cranks with year dating in the 30's.
> 
> If you have a Wald crank it could have been changed out at some point. The later Schwinn cranks had SF, SW, SF and then a number for the week and then the two digit number for the year. Wald did make cranks for Schwinn and there castings were SW.
> 
> Here's a Schwinn crank dated 1945. Hard to see but it's cast on the far right.




OK, not to beat a dead horse here but,...Schwinn used WALD casted (not stamped) cranks but, for the novice like myself please define the acronyms:

*AS *(Authorized Schwinn)...I'm sure that is correct.
*SW* ? ( Schwinn Wald ?)
*SF *??

As always, I continue the lessons here on the Cabe.
JD


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## bike (Oct 1, 2012)

*I believe*



jd56 said:


> OK, not to beat a dead horse here but,...Schwinn used WALD casted (not stamped) cranks but, for the novice like myself please define the acronyms:
> 
> *AS *(Authorized Schwinn)...I'm sure that is correct.
> *SW* ? ( Schwinn Wald ?)
> ...




as means arnold,schwinn


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## bike (Oct 1, 2012)

*may be a*



Talewinds said:


> Hopefully Cyclebuster's comment was made to point out an error in terminology rather than whether or not Schwinn regularly denoted the two-digit year on the cranks.....
> Stamped? No, but the date codes were cast into the crank during it's production, I've seen it most frequently in the Schwinns from the 30's and 40's.




forging.........


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## Autocycleplane (Oct 1, 2012)

Lots of original prewar cranks have the date stamped on them:






SA vs. SW on later cranks - I always guessed this was to designate which forging factory supplied the cranks to Schwinn, Wald or Ashtabula in Ohio. I'm probably wrong though.


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## GTs58 (Oct 2, 2012)

On the old cranks, and the bolt heads etc the *AS* is Arnold Schwinn. 

Are there any rules here about posting links? 

This may help answer your questions. 
http://www.schwinnbikeforum.com/index.php?topic=7121.msg34138#msg34138


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## Adamtinkerer (Oct 6, 2012)

From my experience, sometime around the early 50s, they stopped stamping dates on them. They just say 'AS & CO". I think around 1961, they started dating them again, through the 70s anyway.


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## ZZ3Malibu (Oct 6, 2012)

Just cleaned up a nice 73 breeze and the crank was dated SA 22 73


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## Bent Rim (Oct 6, 2012)

So, I have an A, a 6 an H, and 35 forged into the crank of my Nov. 1948 Schwinn.
Does this mean I have an Ashtabula, May, H? 1935 crank forging?
The letters and numerals are placed randomly on the crank with the exception of the 35.

Bent Rim


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