Tranny Pan

Hey there guys. I am trying to drop the pan on my tranny to clean it and replace the fluid and filter, do i have to have to disconnect the the drive shaft from the 4x4 in order to do so. I feel so displaced with out my wheels. Help!

You will eiither have to drop one end of the front driveshaft, remove the catalytic converter from under the transmission or loosen the bolts that hold the transmission to the cross-member and jack it up to get enough clearance to remove the pan. My first filter change I started by trying to remove the catalytic converter however I ended up rounding off one of the bolts without getting it to budge so I ended up loosening up the transmission and jacked it up. Before my second filter change, it was suggested to drop the front driveshaft instead so I did that and things went much quicker and smoother. If I remember correctly, I dropped it where it goes into the transfer case and didn't mess with it going in to the front differential. That gave me enough clearance to slide the pan out towards the center and then drop it down. Start with the bolts on the converter first. If they can be removed easily then that will give you the most room to drop the pan. If not, go for the driveshaft. Cover the converter with a couple of layers of heavy aluminum foil first so you don't have to smell burning transmission fluid for the next couple of weeks.

Explorer Transmission oil pan

Robert,

Thank you!!!! You saved my sanity.

I came home tonight, took a quick look at my Haynes manual and figured I would change the transmission fluid and filter before my wife fixed dinner. Well, the manual said nothing about a problem dropping the pan. After a good 1/2 hour of moving that pan every way possible, wearing a good portion of the oil and using some colorful phrases to describe the designer of this layout, I threw my hands up and ran to the internet. There was an article on the DIY Network that accurately descibes this problem. Their solution: remove a portion of the exhaust. Great for those of us who own a torch (and want to use it) or haven't yet driven their car off the lot. After about 20 minutes of searching irrelevant or uninformative threads, I came acrossed yours. It gave me my second wind and saved what was left of my mind.

After I stopped crying, I dropped the transfer case side of the front drive shaft (6 easily removable bolts that are not frozen like the exhaust hardware), pushed it aside and pulled the pan. It probably would have been easier to take off the other end of the drive shaft too but I didn't want to extend this out any more. It was a little tricky getting the pan and new gasket back in place, but with patience it worked.

Thank you, thank you!

BTW - Haynes needs to update their manual.

HomeExplorer... I think you will this site to be better than any manual, with lots of great people with experience like Robert to help. Snoop around, some threads even have color pictures that put manuals to shame. Welcome to the site.

Same experience

I had about the exact same experience as Homerexplorer. And I'm just as grateful to Robert for the drive shaft disconnect trick.

I started by trying to remove the catalytic converter. I managed to get the front end bolts with out too much trouble, but the two bolts connecting the rear end of the converter were rusted solid and even PB Blaster didn't help. I debated using an air chisel to bust out those two bolts, but by this time the pan was disconnected and hanging loose and I didn't want to risk blowing chunks of rust and metal shards back up into the transmission. In retrospect I suppose I could have just bolted it back up in there and chipped away.

But disconnecting the drive shaft at the transfer case worked fine for me. Don't forget to draw an alignment mark before disconnecting. Once the 6 bolts were out it took some persuading to get the coupling to slip forward enough to allow it to clear the housing. Once it was clear I used a piece of wire to tie it up and as far to the drivers side as possible. Then with careful manuvering I was able to move the pan slightly forward, then rotate it up towards the drivers side so that the passenger side could clear the catalytic converter and then the whole pan came down at about a 45 degree angle. Palpable relief to have the pan out.

I carefully cleaned and inspected the pan - I was impressed by how clean the whole system was. My Ex is a 1998 XLT SOHC with 225K miles. I got it used at 100K and this is the second transmission drain and refill since I've had it, the first that I've done myself. I was fully expecting to see big shavings in there but magnetic strip just had a layer of what felt like grease. I'm guessing very fine iron particles bringing mostly sludge with them to the magnet.

New filter and gasket and I added a transmission pan drain plug to make this less painful next time. Installing the pan and new gasket is just a bit tedious - take your time and it'll all work.

This is a messy job. If the pan dropped straight out you could probably do it cleanly, but with the convoluted path that the pan has to take end up with Mercon V everywhere. I used a layer of plastic sheeting and a layer of newspapers to help manage the mess.

It took me longer than Homerexplorer, but I find it takes me longer to do just about anything car related.

Thanks again to everybody who contributes to this forum. It saved my bacon again on this job.

I was unable to remove the catalytic converter. However, I found that disconnecting the front driveshaft and removing the transmission cross support completely( supported the tranny with a piece of wood placed in the space between the tranny and the drag plate) allowed enough room to maneuver the pan enough to get it out. I also found that since no gasket sealer is recommended, that I was able to use thread to tie the gasket in place on the pan. this kept the gasket aligned during installation. All in all a less traumatic procedure than I feared.

Once again this website saved my sanity. I was able to drop my transmission pan and change my filter by loosening the front drive shaft via the 4 torx screws up front. They actually came out pretty easy with a T 30 bit. Once the drive shaft was loose I pushed it towards the driver's side. I decided to add a drain plug since I only got about 5.50 Quarts of fluid and I want to go back next weekend and drain some more to get almost entriely new fluid. The idea of lossening and retorqing all of those bolts while on my back is enough to drive you crazy. Instead of using a drain plug with a plastic washer which I heard a lot of people had leak issues I got my plug from Jegs. Theirs come with a metal washer. Just to play it on the safe side I wrapped the plug with a little yellow teflon tape. Took the truck for a couple of trips and everything looks good. Other than some fluid on my exhaust pipe which I sprayed down with brake cleaner it wasn't a terrible job. Thanks again guys.

Front Drive Shaft/ Trans Pan Drop

Hi,
I am working on changing my trans fluid and filter on my 98 Explorer Sport SOHC. After reading the problems with dropping the pan I chose to drop the front drive shaft as this seemed easier for me to do. The four T30 bolts are removed however I am unable to slide it to the driver side for clearance to drop the pan. Not sure if I should try with a hammer to see if I can get it to move? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Victor

*** OK got the darn thing off and I am good to go ***

This site is fantastic because of all the members that post solutions to all the problems the manual does not cover. I'm about to attack this same issue this weekend but I have a question, what is the best place on the transmission pan to install the drain plug? Mine is a 98 Explorer XLT SOHC.
Thank you in advance for any help,
Dennis

I don't know what the "best" place is, but if you go offroad much, one thing you need to consider is placing it in a spot where it will not get damaged by ground contact.

It really sucks to be out in the middle of nowhere and have your drain plug sheared off by a rock -- tranny fluid leaks out, and then you're in a bad spot.

Thank you Rhett for the quick response, because my Explorer has the dual exhaust with the dual cats, one of them perfectly placed UNDER THE TRANSMISSION PAN, great planing from the engineers at Ford that designed the Explorer, I don't have to worry about anything hitting the pan, lol.
Just finished the project and was able to find a spot to the rear of where the filter sits closed to the bottom of the pan. This should make it a little easier next time I do a transmission filter and fluid change.
By the way on my Explore it was easier to let the front drive shaft hang down so I could slide the pan to the driver side, over the front drive shaft and then down from the side that's closest to the cat, coming down at a 45 degree.
On another note, thanks to Pax for suggesting using fishing line to tie and hold the gasket in place until you can get the bolts in. I had no fishing line so I used a clothesline rope and took some of the thinner strands and tie the gasket in place on the pan and was able to hold the gasket in place until I started to put the bolts in. The strands just pulled out very easily, no need for Vaseline, grease, silicon or anything else to hold the gasket in place.
Thank you Robert for the Aluminum foil suggestion to cover the exhaust pipes.

Hope this helps the next member that runs into this.
Thanks again to everybody who contributes to this forum.