Transmission / Overdrive: Pawl for 1955 Studebaker

[doug55stude]

Hello Folks. The parking pawl on my 1955 Studebaker recently broke. I need to find one. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Can the car be driven with the damaged pawl? It makes a lot of noise but the car seems to drive fine. Can the transmission be rebuilt without one? Any help in finding this part is greatly appreciated.

[64V-K7]

After you exhaust your search from the Stude Vendors, check an old Jaguar or Mercedes shop. They both used the transmission into the mid 60's. The parking pawl in a dg250M jams when you engage it on a hill. When you finally use enough force to disengage it, the tip usually breaks off and falls to the pan. There shouldn't be any noise associated with a broken pawl, unless it busted the pivot pin.

[SN-60]

TO: doug55stude,------That 'parking pawl' has been breaking off in those 'Studebaker Automatic Drive' units almost since they were invented....very common problem! And You can drive the car with this defect
'no problem'. Of course, You'll have no 'park' holding ability. UNLESS if it makes a noise, which probably means its interfering with the rotating assy. within the trans....no good! I haven't done this in years...but
that pawl can be accessed as an 'in car' repair....without pulling entire transmission out. (U-joint flange and rear case need to be removed--no big deal except a little harder if You have a C/K as the 'batwing'
crossmember blocks access somewhat. BY THE WAY..it will look like a 'Swiss watch' inside there...beautiful, but fragile engineering!

[Jerry Forrester]

Finally a question I can answer.
I replace the parking pawl in Stella the '55 Pres. Cp. about 10 or so years ago. I got the part from SASCO. SI mat have some still. Yes, you can replace it without removing the transmission from the car.
Like SN-60 said, it's a work of art in there. The parking pawl is double hinged so that when the rear pump is making pressure above about 10-15 MPH the parking pawl will not engage even if the gear shift lever is put into park position.
I wouldn't advise building the transmission without the parking pawl. The parking pawl has a piston on it that slides into the bore leading to the rear pump. If the piston is left out you lose rear pump pressure and that causes shifting problems. Just working from memory here so don't take everything I say as fact.

[doug55stude]

Thanks everyone for the advice. SI lists both the pawl and the rear case as "no stock". I've contacted other Stude vendors with no luck so far. I don't know of any old Jaguar shops in the local area. The car made a noise in the transmission which is really loud in reverse and not so loud in drive. By the way Jerry, my 55 Commander sedan is also named Stella or Stella-Dora which her complete name.

[Dwain G.]

Ross Stelford shows a pawl assm. #529840 on his site:

http://www.studebakerclubs.com/stelfordsinc/Pages/Studebaker0708Transmission.htm

[55s]

I have also had to replace a parking pawl on my 1955 Commander coupe after it broke when I tried to get it out of park whe I was parked on a steep driveway.

Right after this happened, I decided to go on a long trip from Toronto to Kingston to Ottawa and return anyway - after all, my parking brake worked well.

So I went on the trip with family. I parked on some very large hills in Kingston while we were touring. No problems.

Later that night I parked it beside the other Studebakers. Around 9:00 pm that night, I get a call from the front desk. A grey car had almost gone in the pool directly behind the row of cars. I said I would have a look and contact the owner. Unfortunately, the car that had moved was green, not grey, and it was MINE. I guess the brakes had cooled off, loosened up, and my car rolled backwards directly toward the pool! On the way, it grazed a post, jumped a curb, which turned the wheel sharply to the one side, making it back into a massive concrete abutment that protected the pool equipment. No tail lights broken, no bent trunk, but the filler strip and the bumper were bent. ** AND *** WHEW *** it did not go into the pool! (six feet deep and filled!)

In the morning, I found that my two motor mounts had broken. Bill from Kingston, helped me replace them. Another Bill (with Cathy) took my family to Ottawa so they wouldn't miss the candy factory tour. Shortly after the tour left for Ottawa, I was on the road again and met up with everyone in Ottawa.

A real memorable Studebaker adventure!

Yes, there was some minor damage. What hurt most was the ribbing from family and friends that I have had to endure for many years for this near miss.

I had the parking pawl fixed shortly after, and yes, I did have trouble finding one.

MY ADVICE: GET THE PARKING PAWL FIXED!!

[doug55stude]

I would like to thank everyone who responded and shared their stories. I am glad to report that Mr. Stelford tipped me off to a vendor that did have one in stock and I purchased it. I'll have to be more careful when driving Stella-Dora in the future.

[rockne10]

Seems silly to instruct folks how to park but, with the tendency of those pawls to break under pressure...
Come to a stop, fully engage parking brake, then engage the transmission in park. When proceeding, engage foot brake before releasing parking brake and engaging drive. Your pawl will last forever.

[rkapteyn]

I stock these and most other parts for the Detroit Gear automatic transmissions made by Borg Warner
and used in the 1950-55 and a few 1956 Studebaker cars.
Robert Kapteyn
studebaker@mac.com