'47 '48 Chief Serial Numbers

[swolf]

Can anyone point me to where I can find serial numbers for '47 and '48 Indians? I'm looking to buy a '47 Chief and I want to find out if the engine and frame are actually '47.
Thanks!
John

[AdminGuy]

I guess you would be looking simply for the "CDG" prefix? The IND numbering system uses an alpha numeric code. The alpha be the displacement/model and year, each letter represents the cronolgical number. "A" being (1) one, and so on.

Were you looking for earily or late production?

Auto-lite dist. = 1947 would be a "B" followed by month of manu. Jan being (1) one. etc. So "3B" would be March 1947.

[swolf]

I may have not clearly heard the numbers over the phone, but I think the seller said the engine was CDG4754 and the frame was 3478955. Does that make sense?

John

[kval]

47-48 chief serial numbers

John
"CDG" on the engine and "347" on the frame make it a 47 chief

[INLINE4NUT]

Just to add to what KVAL has said...its a 47 but NOT matching numbers as from the factory ! This may or may not be of importance to you but the price should reflect it!

[swolf]

Thanks guys. That solves the mystery. My only follow-on question is if the oil pumps on '47s and '48s are interchangeable? It was my understanding that the '47 oil pump was a piston type while the '48 pump had 3 gears in it. I can't clearly tell from the pictures, but the oil pump on the engine looks like the gear type.

The sellor stated up front that it was a non-matching engine, which is ok with me. These days I don't think he's going to drop his price very much if at all. I'm not looking to build a 100 pointer, I really want something that will be dependable and I can ride often.

I've got a few more questions for the sellor and maybe by this time next week I'll be the proud owner. We'll see.

John