badmrb

OK, I thought I had a leaking tranny pan. I have tried everything to get it to quite dripping. After a day or two there would be a nice size spot under the truck. FINALLY figured out it was coming from higher up. It is leaking by the shaft for the shift linkage. I got a seal from NAPA for the shifter shaft. They didn't have an o-ring for the TV shaft. I would like to drop the shaft out and inspect.

Is there anything I need to know to drop the Valve body? It appears that it needs to come down in order to get the shaft down. I want to make sure I dont screw something up trying to fix a leak.

If anyone has replaced the shift linkage shaft seal or dropped the valve body and can give me advice, I'd really appreciate it.

jughead

will try to explain an easy way to do this. if u know what a bush hook is u can take a flat blade screw driver and grind it to that shape. remove levers. hook it under the metal part of the seal. it is easy to pry out. set new seal on shaft. use a 15/16 socket and a large c-clamp and and a small board on the trans pan and press it in the case. reinstall levers. if i could do pics the tool is simple to make but i cant. sorry

badmrb

Thanks jughead, I'm not too concerned about getting the seal out. However, it looks like the VB has to come down to get the levers out and I want to make sure there isn't a GOTCHA on removing and reinstalling the VB. I've never been into an auto tranny and I have no schematic.

I'm probably goin to go out tonight and start taking apart. We'll see.

jughead

stop the valve body does not have to come out. pan doesnt have to be removed. it is so simple to do takes longer to get under the truck than to do this job.

badmrb

I probably mispoke, I don't want to just remove the levers, I want to remove the shafts themselves also and inspect. I would like to replace the inner shaft o-rings.

Does anyone know of any GOTCHA's when removing and replacing the valve body?

jughead

the are no inner shaft o-rings. there is a small lip seal on the inner shaft about the size of a dime. it is under the e-clip on top of the shaft. remove e-clip and get it out with an icepick. it is very rare that it leaks.

JWP

Mine leaks the exact same way. If I drive it every day, the torque converter stays pumped up and it will not leak, but if I let the truck sit for 2-3 days, the trans will leak 3 quarts out of the shift linkage bushing, just like badmrb described. I also thought that I would have to drop the valve body to change the bushing out.

Please describe how you can change the bushing out without taking the valve body out.

Thanks

jughead

i thought i did in a previous post.

badmrb

NAPA parts guy said the inner shaft seal was an o-ring and they were out. I went out last night and tore into. After cleaning off tons of gunk I can see the clip and seal for the inner shaft. Its very dry and brittle. I'll be replacing as soon as I can get one.

JWP, large shaft seal comes out easy. Small screw driver slipped down along shaft, pry, and POP. Used a large socket to help get new seal back down. I sure hope this 1.49 seal fixes my problem. I can't tell you how much tranny fluid and different pan gaskets I've tried in order to stop leak before I cleaned up tranny well enough to tell where leak was actually coming.

My truck has over 400k and no idea how many miles on tranny. By the amount of crud built up on the underside, looks like like 400k