Not too long ago we posted some photos of a nice,
late 1950's Studebaker station wagon, with overdrive. I saw on Statcounter that someone came to that post by doing a search for information about rebuilding an overdrive unit in a Studebaker. I wish they would have e-mailed me, because I happen to have the information they need; a 1959 repair manual that covers many brands of automobiles. This book was a great educational tool for me during my high school years, and it gave me the confidence to jump into mechanical adventures that most shade tree mechanics would send to the "Professionals."
I pulled the old book off the shelf and reminisced about my 1958 Silver Hawk. The photos and instructions in the Motor Auto Repair Manual especially helped in the disassembly phase of unfamiliar auto parts. Laying out the parts carefully on clean newspapers kept things orderly, and I was able to rebuild my transmission and overdrive unit without too much trouble.
The freewheeling rollers, and some of the bearings in the transmission had me stumped when I was reassembling all of the parts. How do you hold long roller bearings in a bore, fit in the last roller, and then slide in the shaft without things getting crossed up? The Motor Manual does not tell you how to do this. I called a mechanic who lived a couple blocks from us with my dilemma, and he let me in on a little mechanic secret: Butch Wax.
Butch Wax will hold parts in place when grease will fail. It is great for replacing the needle bearings in U-Joints when they have fallen out, and for many other applications when you need a part to stay put during reassembly. Mrs. TBS found the photo above for me, and this is the package I remember. I probably have an old container just like this buried in one of my toolboxes.
A search on the internet turned up this image of the current package for Lucky Tiger Butch Wax, only they don't call it Butch Wax nowadays. If you ever plan on working on a manual transmission, U-Joints, or other tricky reassembly projects, you need this in your toolbox. Buy it before you need it.
Not too long ago we posted some photos of a nice, late 1950's Studebaker station wagon, with overdrive. I saw on Statcounter that someone came to that post by doing a search for information about rebuilding an overdrive unit in a Studebaker. I wish they would have e-mailed me, because I happen to have the information they need; a 1959 repair manual that covers many brands of automobiles. This book was a great educational tool for me during my high school years, and it gave me the confidence to jump into mechanical adventures that most shade tree mechanics would send to the "Professionals."
I pulled the old book off the shelf and reminisced about my 1958 Silver Hawk. The photos and instructions in the Motor Auto Repair Manual especially helped in the disassembly phase of unfamiliar auto parts. Laying out the parts carefully on clean newspapers kept things orderly, and I was able to rebuild my transmission and overdrive unit without too much trouble.
The freewheeling rollers, and some of the bearings in the transmission had me stumped when I was reassembling all of the parts. How do you hold long roller bearings in a bore, fit in the last roller, and then slide in the shaft without things getting crossed up? The Motor Manual does not tell you how to do this. I called a mechanic who lived a couple blocks from us with my dilemma, and he let me in on a little mechanic secret: Butch Wax. 
Butch Wax will hold parts in place when grease will fail. It is great for replacing the needle bearings in U-Joints when they have fallen out, and for many other applications when you need a part to stay put during reassembly. Mrs. TBS found the photo above for me, and this is the package I remember. I probably have an old container just like this buried in one of my toolboxes.
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