Help identify this axle

A buddy gave me an old home built trailer for hauling dirt bikes and mulch. It is 58" from outside of hub to outside hub. Here are some pics. 
 

Pinion snubber says "MoPar"
4" lug pattern says A body
Cover says 7 1/4" rear end.


(It's mounted upside down under the trailer, which will burn up the pinion bearing)

I doubt it has a ring gear.  Maybe not even a differential.  A lot of folks just crank down the carrier bearings and weld something on the end of the axle as a retainer.

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:

Pinion snubber says "MoPar"
4" lug pattern says A body
Cover says 7 1/4" rear end.


(It's mounted upside down under the trailer, which will burn up the pinion bearing)

Agreed.  Although the vent now being on the bottom of the axle makes me think there's no gear oil in there at all which makes me think that Curtis is also correct and that there's no differential in there.

Breather will be on the axle tube and retains the brake line junction/flex hose.  It threads in, so a fine thread bolt will fill that orifice, or more likely, whatever looks close cross threaded in.   Only two bolts hold the pinion snubber on, so I don't see much extra work going into this build.  Regardless, without a differential, there is nothing to support the splined ends of the axleshafts.  The early 7 1/4 retains the axles with bearing retainers at the outer ends of the housing.    I suppose you could pull the cross shaft, spin the spider gears out, and then reinsert the cross shaft to keep the side gears in place.   As long as the cross shaft is retained by a roll pin.   The later 7 1/4 uses a bolt to retain the pin, and it has a nasty habit of breaking when you try to remove it.  (And AFAICT, is NLA new)

PS- you can se where lube has been leaking around the fill plug after the upside down install.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I doubt it has a ring gear.  Maybe not even a differential.  A lot of folks just crank down the carrier bearings and weld something on the end of the axle as a retainer.

Mopar axles use the outside bearing as a retainer. No C clips. So you could simply pull the shaft out and cut it short.

MadScientistMatt said:

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I doubt it has a ring gear.  Maybe not even a differential.  A lot of folks just crank down the carrier bearings and weld something on the end of the axle as a retainer.

Mopar axles use the outside bearing as a retainer. No C clips. So you could simply pull the shaft out and cut it short.

Not all, some use c clips as well

While Mopar axles with C clips do exist, they're a lot later than the 7 1/4". Should have made it clear that this wasn't a blanket statement, more that it applies to muscle car era axles.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Rearends grow gear lube, no matter how well you drain them and how long it has been sitting.