JC Higgins confirm year? Also in need of crank...

[cyclehobo]

Hey guys. I have had this J.C Higgins for maybe 20 years..ride it quite a bit..but had a crank blow-out in August. Couple things. I always assumed it was a 1947 but thought I would post the picture and maybe have that confirmed or corrected. Also please see the photo of the crank/ chainwheel. Is this correct for the bike. I have never had the bike apart except for greasing but I did see another Higgins bike that had the same tank but a different style / design chainwheel. I am happy with the one on it but would like to know which is correct. Finally the crank end ball snapped where the pedal threads in..so I will be in need of a correct 1 pc crank to fix this old girl up and get back on the road. So please let me know which would be correct or if someone has a crank like this one can help thanks much in advance...

 

[Freqman1]

Chain ring looks CWC. Correct crank and chain ring shouldn't be too hard to find. V/r Shawn

 

[cyclehobo]

Would this be the correct style chainring / crank. This is a photo I found on the web...

 

[Adamtinkerer]

There should be codes on the BB, the key one will read "MOS - " followed by a letter, which is the year. Here's a list, it doesn't directly reference Sears - sold bikes, so there isn't an S in the list codes, but the year letters are the same.

 

[cyclehobo]

Great, thanks Adam. OK I just cleaned up the BB and found these #'s which look close to what you explain..but still not positive. On my bike there is 3 sets of serial #'s. They are listed top to bottom like this:

MOS-L
MOD- XXX XXX
XXXXXX

I dont think this bike would be 1939 due to the styling. But what about the MOS and then the L letter. Is this a 1953? I had always thought 1947 but maybe not? Thoughts based on bike paint style and the serial # I have listed above?

Thanks in advance..

 

[Adamtinkerer]

You were correct, 'MOS-L' is '47. The other stamp, 'MOD' is probably followed by '502', basically just Sears coding. And that other pic is the correct Murray chain ring.

 

[TieDye]

You were correct, 'MOS-L' is '47. The other stamp, 'MOD' is probably followed by '502', basically just Sears coding. And that other pic is the correct Murray chain ring.

@Adamtinkerer What does MOS-L mean?

 

[Adamtinkerer]

@Adamtinkerer What does MOS-L mean?

Murray Ohio (for) Sears, L = 1947.

 

[Scout Evans]

Right, it should have a Murray skiptooth chain wheel.