I am looking for advice before I dive into a potential big fix. I have noticed a tranny leak under the truck getting worse. I finally looked at it hard, and thought it was the front of the pan gasket leaking so I bought a new filter/gasket kit and installed it this past weekend. Took it to the car wash and cleaned off all the gunk because it had coated the entire underside of the truck by this time. By the time I got back home, I found the point at which the main transmission case joins what I think is the over drive section is leaking. Two of the bolts are seeping fluid. What seals or parts would be prone to failure at this point?

The only thing that has recently happened out of the ordinary is a couple months ago on a long hi-way trip my son accidentally engaged the 4wheel drive while we were driving down the interstate at 70ish mph. I have no idea how long it had been on, I just happened to look down at the gauges to see how we were doing on fuel and noticed an alarming yellow 4x4 light illuminated.

I've got almost 100k logged. If it isn't a quick, easy fix, I'm considering buying a good rebuild manual and trying to rebuild it myself with some upgraded goodies.

 

There is a paper gasket there, but worst case the leak could be a crack into the bolt holes, best case the bolt threads are leaking. Might try some thread sealer on the bolts and see if that helps

 

I'll give that a shot first. Hopefully it's that simple. :-)

 

Isnt there also a rubber gasket at the intermediate shaft also??

 

I happened to be in NE Iowa for the holidays, so I stopped in at Goerend Transmission. After talking with Dave, he thought i probably have a cracked overdrive housing. I didn't realize this was a common problem. When I get back, I'll put the truck on stands and run it to see if it is cracked or not.