fourthandgoal

I'm sure this has been covered, my apologies in advance, but I didn't have much luck with the search.

I'm swapping the tailhousing on my transmission (first was eaten up by a rogue driveshaft harmonic balancer). Pulled the driveshaft tonight but ran out of light. Looks like I'll need to jack up the transmission and pull the whole crossmember, but are there any more clever ways to go about it? Any writeups online?

Anyone know what size 12pt bolts those are on the tailhousing? Didn't see one, but any gasket I can expect to be replacing?

Will be trying to finish the job tomorrow evening after work if possible, any help no matter how small or basic is appreciated. Thank you!!

torquefan

I've done 4x4s with the crossmember still in place, just jacked up the transmission and removed the mount. It may be doable with your 2wd truck too; saves fighting with the crossmember. The 12 point socket you need is a 10 mm. It's nice to have an impact universal socket, but they aren't that easy to find. A 12 point wrench may be necessary for some of the difficult bolts. I think I remember loctite being used at the factory on those bolts, so a small amount of heat applied to the bolt head may help a lot.
Good luck.

ronnie

crossmember can stay in on the 2wd. remove the rubber mount under the tail and you will have enough room to remove the housing. There is no gasket, use rtv. Note how the speedometer sensor is indexed, and be sure to reinstall it the same way. It is offset, although from underneath it may not look like it. Check 5th gear nut while in there.

fourthandgoal

Thank you torquefan and ronnie for the info!! My apologies in updating. Came down to the wire and ended up having to find another solution while I fixed the truck.

Anyway, I'm back at it. Have all the tailhousing bolts removed...until I rounded off the last one. Of course. I've been hitting it with a lot of heat, penetrant and an impact extractor, rinse and repeat. No dice, that sucker is in there. Purchase on the bolt head isn't a problem, with enough pressure the extractor socket grabs it solid, but my impact driver (1/2" drive kobalt pneumatic) stops dead on it.

Any suggestions? I'd like to avoid shearing the head off if I can so I don't have to worry about extracting the shank and possibly damaging the threads.