440 steel and cast cranks

[Rough 71 RT]

I just picked up a 76 440 from a motorhome. it's a complete engine, all nice and free'd up, with the only thing missing being the waterpump. well here's my question.....is it possible that this would have a steel crank with a cast crank only balancer? the reason I ask this is because the flange has the squared off notch at the 6 o'clock position and a hole at the 12 o'clock position and 6 bolt holes, which i'm seeing in photos as a steel crank but it has the 76 bullitt nosed harmonic balancer that say's right on it...."Use with Cast Crank Only". Now I found a website that says that 75-76 were the last years for the steel crank in a car but................they were forged for HD trucks. Now I'm no rocket scientist but I would call a motor home a heavy duty truck. i saw no thin parting line near the flange which is a good sign, but I havent taken the pan off yet because I just got it today and it's still in the back of my truck. i guess for 300.00 bucks i can't complain even if it is cast. i know Chevys and other GM's have a rear flange ID guide but I can't seem to find one for mopar.Also what are the odds of the notch on the rear flange being the same for a cast crank and a steel crank? and the website I went to didn't show a picture of what a balancer looks like for a 76 440 with a steel crank, which kinda leads me to believe that maybe the used the bullitt nosed "cast only" Balancer for the HD truck motors with the steel crank. Does this sound familiar to anyone? according to the website there were 2 cranks for a 440 in 76, they were # 3830183(forged truck) and #3830482 for cast. I haven't taken mine apart yet but I guess what I would like to know is, is there a way to identify a cast and a steel crank while still in the engine with the pan on?     Thanks Dave

[Plum6Pak]

I can't tell you a way to verify what crankshaft is in your engine but some HD applications such as your motor home engine came with a forged crankshaft and the heavy duty connecting rods and was externally balanced due to the extra weight of the rods, same as the later 6pak engines. So you may have just what the Dr. ordered. The engine will have only about 220 horse power and I believe about 330 fpt but that won't matter if you are going to rebuild it, you can build it to what ever horse power you want!

The later blocks are also built heavier through the water jackets and are actually better in some ways than the earlier versions. Here's a good link to tell you about your later model 440 block.
This is an interesting read.

http://www.440source.com/blockinfo.htm

[Chryco Psycho]

the cranks loook totally different , the cast is a much cleaner looking piece with squared counterweights to maximize the weight

[Plum6Pak]

As Chryco said the cast crank is cut square and you can see a big difference there, also, the casting flange they are talking about is on the rod journals, check out the pictures, the forged steel crankshaft has a wide mark vs a narrow line. Of course you will need to pull the pan to see this and verify it. Don't know of a way to be absolutely certain without pulling the pan.