The Chevy Emergency Repairs Story

                                           The Chevy Emergency Repair Story

                                                           1962

                     A true story written 5/2013 Re-written 02/28/2016

                                                    Howard Yasgar

     This story is about determination, and what  things are possible to do when you are under extreme pressure.

     In 1962, I was living in Westville Connecticut, when I had completed my eight weeks of basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey.

     My new orders were to return to Fort Dix to serve six months in the motor pool there.

     I was told that I could return with my own car, but I would have to park it off base.

     After doing a little checking around before I left Fort Dix. I found a service station in Wrightstown with a large parking area where military personnel from Fort Dix could leave their personal cars.

     My car was a 1959 Chevrolet convertible that I had extensively modified.

     Because of the way my car looked, wherever I went, cars would pull up next to me wanting to race, and if no police were around I usually accommodated them.

     The car had a highly souped up 348 cubic inch engine with three carburetors, and it had a 4 speed corvette transmission, plus the car had a positraction differential (Usually referred to as non slip  rear end).

     A non slip differential (Rear End) is a housing with gears that turns the rear wheels of the car.

     Positraction was a term Chevrolet invented for their specially designed non slip differential they offered, what it did was, if one wheel began slipping, the power was transferred to the other wheel.

     This feature was an option offered by Chevrolet in 1959 and was useful when driving on snow or icy roads, but in my case it was perfect for street racing.  

     When I received my official orders to return to Fort Dix, I planned on driving my  (Hot rod) Chevrolet, to New Jersey, and parking it in the Wrightstown auto storage yard.

     I planned my trip very carefully, I knew it was only a three hour drive to get to Fort Dix New Jersey, but since I didn’t want to be late for my new job, I decided to leave my home the evening before I was due at Fort Dix.

     I planned to eat and sleep at a New Jersey motel that night and be in Wrightstown in the morning, to arrange for my parking.

     The first part of my trip heading south to New Jersey went well enough until I hit the New Jersey Turnpike.

     I was cruising along at the speed limit when all of a sudden there was a 1956 Chevrolet alongside of me and he was gunning his engine.

     Then he suddenly shifted into second gear and floored it, so I knew this guy wanted to race.   

     I down shifted my car all the way to second gear and I floored it, then I quickly shifted into third gear, and I started pulling away from that 1956 Chevy.

     All of a sudden there was a loud bang and my car shuddered and it stopped accelerating.

     I coasted into the grassy area in the center of the New Jersey turnpike while the 1956 Chevy just kept on going.

    I just sat there for a while until my nerves had settled down.

    I looked at my watch. It was exactly 11:PM and it was dark, only the lights from the headlights of passing cars and the turnpike lighting in the distance.

    From the noise that I had heard, I knew the Positraction differential had blown up.

    I had to think of what I was going to do.

    I knew that if I walked to a service plaza to get a tow, I would get ripped off for a lot of money that I didn’t have.

    I was too far away from New Haven to call any friends to help me, and if I did, what could they do?

    Also if I left the car to walk to a service plaza, and I was gone any length of time, there was always the possibility someone would stop and strip parts off of the car.

    Then I got to worrying what would happen if I arrived late for duty at Fort Dix.

    I checked my wallet and I saw that I had a little over one hundred dollars in it, and that told me I could never afford to pay for a new or used positraction differential.

    I thought about calling a Chevrolet agency but my car was way out of any warranty.

    Then I got to thinking.

    For me to change the differential, was not that difficult a thing to do, especially if you had the right tools.

    I thought the job could be done in about three hours maximum.

    So then I thought I should look in the car’s trunk, I might have brought some tools with me.

    I got out of the car and opened the trunk.

    There was a flashlight in my glove box so I used it look around the trunk, but besides from my duffle bag with my army clothing, there was only a ball peen hammer and a medium size Craftsman flat blade screwdriver.

    I gave it a lot of thought, and since there were no other tools, my options were all bad.

    Then I got to thinking.

    I took out the cars jack, and the spare tire, and then the cars lug wrench, and I had the hammer and the Craftsman screwdriver.

    I wedged the cars spare tire in front of the left front tire, I was thinking that if I jacked up the car, it would keep the car from rolling forward.

    I then loosened the two rear tires, with the cars tire iron.

    I used the car’s hub caps to hold all the nuts.

    Then I jacked up the car, removing the two rear tires.

    I pushed them under the car, and they just fit under the left and right side of the axle housing. Now if the car fell off the jack it couldn’t crush me.

    I removed the two rear brake drums, and the cars brake shoes.

    I was using the screwdriver like it was a chisel, so with the screwdriver, I gently tapped each nut on the axle retainers until I was able to turn them with my fingers.

    There was just enough light to see what I was doing from the headlights of the passing cars on the turnpike.

    Once the axle retainers were loose, I pulled each axle out about six inches.

    I then slid under the car on the grass and using the screwdriver and hammer I bent away the locking tabs on the nuts holding the universal joint to the differential.

    Once the universal joint was off, I was able to push the drive shaft out of the way, then I proceeded to loosen the nuts all around the differential carrier assembly again using my screwdriver like a chisel, and gently tapping it with the hammer.

    Then by prying with the screwdriver the differential assembly slid out of the axle housing, falling on to the ground.

    The black lubricating oil poured out all over the ground making a mess.

    The thick oil got all over my hands, my pants and my shirt, and the smell of the oil was terrible it was making me sick.

    I looked at my watch and it was already four in the morning.

    Not even one State police trooper had even stopped to see what I was doing.

    I slid into the cars driver’s seat and tried to get some sleep, but the smell of the oil was so overpowering, it was almost impossible to breathe.

    At first light, a pickup truck pulled up right behind me.

    I didn’t know if he stopped to assist me or if he was thinking he could steal something from my car.

    But he was sure surprised to see me when I got out of the front seat.

    I asked him if there was a junk yard in the area, where I could buy a used differential, and he said, “Yes”, he said, there was a big junk yard about two exits back.

    So I asked him “If he could take me there. He said, “Yes,” but he said he was on his way to work, and we had to hurry up.

    At the junkyard, they were just opening up when we arrived.

    The parts manager took one look at me, all covered in black oil. He must have thought I was a crazy man.

    I asked him if he had a used differential, for a 1955 to 1962 Chevrolet, I knew they were not Positraction but they would fit.

    Yes he said, they had one from a 1955 Chevrolet and the price was thirty five dollars.

    I said that I would take it and I gave him the money.

    Then I told him what had happened and I asked him if by some chance he had a new  gasket, so I could install his used part.

    I also asked if I could buy some proper tools.

    The junkyard guy asked me why I needed the tools, I told him I needed them to install the differential. He said, “How in the hell did you get the differential out if you don’t have any tools, so I told him how I did it.

    By now several more employees had shown up and they were looking at my old differential which I had carried in.

    I told them all that I had removed the differential with only a hammer and screwdriver.

    They said, “Are you bullshitting us?”

    Now everyone in the junkyard was looking and laughing at me, but they could clearly see I was covered in the black grease.

    “Where in the hell are you doing the job”, the parts guy asked?

    Up in the center of the turnpike” I replied.

    The guy with the pickup truck that brought me, was starting to get antsy, and said he needed to go to work.

    I could see the junk yard guy, didn’t believe I had taken the car apart with only a screwdriver and hammer.

    He said to one of the other guys, “Do any of you guys believe this shit.

    Then he then said to the guy with the pickup, “You can take off, I’ll bring him back to his car, I want to see what he’s doing”.

    I thanked the guy with the pickup for the ride and he left.  I then told the junkyard manager that I was afraid the pickup truck guy might try and steal something from my car.

    He quickly went to the metal shelving behind him, and grabbed several wrenches a new gasket and a big can of 90 weight oil.     

    I asked him how much all the stuff was going to cost, as I only had sixty five dollars left.

    He said, “Don’t worry about it,” and we got into his pickup truck and drove back up to the turnpike.

    My car was still there and no one had touched anything.

    The Junkyard guy bent over and looked under my car. “God Damn” He said, you really did it.

    He had a newspaper in the cab of his truck and I used a few pages to wipe out the broken pieces of gears that were inside of the axle housing, and I laid the rest of the paper on the puddle of grease that was on the ground.

    I saved a few pages of paper to fold into a funnel. I put on the new differential gasket on the axle housing, and with help from the junkyard guy we lifted and slid the heavy new differential in place.

    With the wrenches the junkyard guy had brought, it was now easy to tighten all the nuts on the differential and the universal joint, and in less than an hour I had it all together.

    I rolled up some newspaper like a funnel, poured his can of the 90 weight oil into a plastic coffee cup he had in his truck, and slowly, cup at a time, I filled up the differential with 90 weight oil.

    The junkyard guy said, “I got to get back to the yard”. He gave me his business card, I thanked him for the tools and oil, and he took off.

    I put the axles back in and then the brakes and the brake drums and then the tires. I lowered the car, and put the spare back in the trunk.

    When I finally got to the car storage lot at Wrightstown, I went into their bathroom, and washed up using all their soap and I changed into my military uniform.

    I left the oily shirt and pants in the trash in the bathroom.

    They called a Fort Dix Taxi cab for me, and I was right on time, and it was just like nothing had ever happened.