John this would be virtually Impossible, just get one from the sixties and you'll be good to go,

Thanks for your note.

I'll probably end up going that route, but I was just curious as to whether there were any signs that differentiate the specific years as I've seen several people refer to their SKs by exact years.

I've come across some close-up shots of a couple '60s pedals and it looks like there's some sort of casting symbol on the bottom. Is that a date indicator, or just a generic marker?

Again, thanks to all for your time and input.

John

yes kc is the company that did the casting, the Early Wfl's Sk's are a little different than the Ludwig 60's sk's but you would need to have them side by side to tell the differences.

here are three speed king Wfl's the first two from the left to right are early to mid 50's and the last is late 50's the wing bolts on the beater shaft yoke is one way to tell the difference.

here is the video I told you about! [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXtrKb1T5N0[/ame] also this pic is of the lube I use to re lube my speed kings slick honey Mountain bike suspension lube

I think there IS a way to get a general idea of when a SK pedal was made.

[IMG]http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu224/FTG3/SpeedKing8.jpg[/IMG]

If you look closely at the castings, the one on the left has longer hoop indexing "fingers" than the one on the right.

I THINK it was in the mid/late 70's when Ludwig made that change (not sure of that though). Many feel that the later production SK's were not of the same quality as the older "long fingered" models, due to the production equipment was worn out and tolerances got sloppy.

I had heard the index arms were shortened to allow mounting on bass drums with wider hoops.

Some have remarked that they didn't like SK pedals because the beater went past vertical before striking the batter head. Seems to me, that could be the case if you mount a "long indexed (old)" SK on a wide BD hoop.

Conversely, some have complained about the beater cam assembly rubbing against the batter head. Could be "short indexed (newer)" SK on a narrow BD hoop.

I've never had any issues with the Speed King pedal. I've been using the very same one I bought new in 1965 (long index).

I am by no means an expert, but I can be confident that if a SK has the "Short index arms" there is no way it could be from 1963-64.

I recently saw a Ebay listing for a "Vintage" WFL SK. Yeah, it was a WFL footboard mounted in a 'Short index" casting. Vintage, yeah, right.

Thanks for the note on the index fingers. I'll keep an eye on that.

John