Letting my axle hang out.

The axle has been hanging out in the truck bed for months.  Time to start it on its journey...

There's numbers under the grime and paint! 
Note the 11  43, that's the gear ratio- 11 is the pinion teeth, 43 is the ring gear teeth. 
43/11=3.9090 "crown and pinion" ratio.
The higher numerically the ratio is, the lower the gearing.
A lower ratio can be beneficial at getting the car moving quickly, but without extra transmission
gears- the car will top out at a lower speed.

Well, the axle was half full of gear oil. Better than nothing.  At least it was clean with no shavings.
 Everything turns easy, I think its going to get 140wt oil to keep wear and the dreaded "clunk" at bay. 
The rear shoes are in very good shape so those will be used for a 1000 miles to get it broken in.

1.5 hours of cleaning, I'm going to put in a new pinion seal, 2 wheel cylinders, parking brake boots, and gear oil, and a fresh coat of paint.
All told = <$75