340 K Member ??

-
S

Small Block

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
Messages
5,213
Reaction score
70
Location
West Plains, Mo.
A guy was out the other day and he showed me something that i have never heard of and no one here has ever brought it up so i'll run it by ya and we'll see if it holds water. On the front of a k member that came in a 340 car there seems to be a washer welded on the front of the K member. We walked around some 340 cars and on everyone there was that washer welded to the front edge. Nothing welded to the slants or 318 cars though. Anyone want to confirm this? Take a look at your car and let me know if this washer is there.
 
Uhmm! Now I have to go look, I never noticed that. Where exactly on the front is it? in the center , in front of oil pan? I'm gone out to see, flashlight in hand. Back in a flash, lol.
 
Confirmed, the pic is not the greatest, but for sure something like a washer is welded on there. Is this only on 340 "K" members ?
 
This is on my original 340 swinger K -Frame. I replaced it with a k-frame from a 318 2dr that does not have one, I have heard the 340 K- frames are beefed up. The only other thing I could find that was different was two half washers below the lower control arm holes. The front washer is just below the pulley facing the front.

kframe.jpg
 
My '69 is a factory 340 car and it doesn't have it. Maybe they started it in '70?
 
Will have to check......very interesting small block.......

Maybe Mopar welded those on for ID purposes of 340 cars ?
 
I've heard of it before and it checks out on our 72 Roadrunner as well as the 72 Demon.
 
Must have been 70 models and up on the 340's. Don't ya like learnin even at our age?

Here's another one for ya. He's quite sure of this. The steering columns on the 71 and 72 dusters only have the key release knob on the under side of the column. My 72 duster dont have it. What's you guys findings on this one. We looked my field over and i don't have a car that has it in any of those years. This needs some research.
 
yup alot of them have it. i parted a 340 4 speed duster and it had one. thought what the hell did someone weld a washer there for. i grinded it off. then saw a bunch of 340 cars over the years with them.
 
I finally remembered to check this today......yes on 2 different 340 X-members. They sure look like they don't belong there.......
 
I had a 73 340 Duster and the LCA stud tube in the crossmember broke loose. I later heard of that happening quite a bit on those cars. If the problem showed up soon enough ,I`m sure that Chrysler became aware of it and may have a TSB on it. I wonder if the washer is some sort of indicator saying "check the welding on the LCA tube" or "welding has been checked on LCA tube". I don`t know but it`s a guess.?
 
I just got introduced to this topic so I thought I would share some pics from my 1971 & 1972 340 Dusters k frames.....very interesting

washer.jpg


washer1.jpg
 
My guess is the reinforced them some place and the washer was to id them.
 
Further info has came to lite and that is the Trans Am model stuff came with the washer and the last two digits of the part number was stamped in the washer upside down. Can anyone confirm this?
 
Small Block said:
Further info has came to lite and that is the Trans Am model stuff came with the washer and the last two digits of the part number was stamped in the washer upside down. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...

I`ve never heard of that. Do you mean the T/A Challenger and AAR Barracuda?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top