Almost a disaster today

bmcgc

bmcgc

TJ Enthusiast
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Joined
Dec 13, 2023
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459
Location
Georgia
The transmission pan on my 99 TJ was leaking like a waterfall so today was the day. I have had the Summit deep pan sitting in the garage for a few months, waiting for cooler weather.

All was going smoothly until the last bolt for the filter extension snapped off. It snapped at 25in lbs, I figure it bottomed out. I backed out the other two bolts and luckily, there was about a 1/2in of bolt sticking out of the valve body that I could grab with a pair of vice grips. The Summit kit came with the pan, filter, filter extension and bolts, no pan gasket. The bolts were pretty cheesy and are 10-24, 2.25in long. Ace had the bolts in hardened steel that were 2in long. I didn't strip any threads or crack anything, so other than the aggravation, no issue.

I could not get a Felpro gasket to seal properly, it kept deforming. I went to O'reillys and bought a rubber gasket that seems to be working ok. I hope so, that is a PITA.

I'm getting too old to do this on the garage floor.
 
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bmcgc said:
The transmission pan on my 99 TJ was leaking like a waterfall so today was the day. I have had the Summit deep pan sitting in the garage for a few months, waiting for cooler weather.

All was going smoothly until the last bolt for the filter extension snapped off. It snapped at 25in lbs, I figure it bottomed out. I backed out the other two bolts and luckily, there was about a 1/2in of bolt sticking out of the valve body that I could grab with a pair of vice grips. The Summit kit came with the pan, filter, filter extension and bolts, no pan gasket. The bolts were pretty cheesy and are 10-24, 2.25in long. Ace had the bolts in hardened steel that were 2in long. I didn't strip any threads or crack anything, so other than the aggravation, no issue.

I could not get a Felpro gasket to seal properly, it kept deforming. I went to O'reillys and bought a rubber gasket that seems to be working ok. I hope so, that is a PITA.

I'm getting too old to do this on the garage floor.
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That's probably my least favorite auto maintenance task. Working on your back, impossible to do without making a mess. One time (in a shop with a pit, so I was actually standing), I had a drop of hot ATF fall off a valve body, and miss my glasses to land right on my eyeball. It didn't sting for that long, all things considered, but it took a couple hours to clear the greasy film over my cornea that gave everything a soft focus like a holiday movie on the Hallmark channel. This was about 22 years ago; the memory is pretty fresh.
 
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bmcgc said:
The transmission pan on my 99 TJ was leaking like a waterfall so today was the day. I have had the Summit deep pan sitting in the garage for a few months, waiting for cooler weather.

All was going smoothly until the last bolt for the filter extension snapped off. It snapped at 25in lbs, I figure it bottomed out. I backed out the other two bolts and luckily, there was about a 1/2in of bolt sticking out of the valve body that I could grab with a pair of vice grips. The Summit kit came with the pan, filter, filter extension and bolts, no pan gasket. The bolts were pretty cheesy and are 10-24, 2.25in long. Ace had the bolts in hardened steel that were 2in long. I didn't strip any threads or crack anything, so other than the aggravation, no issue.

I could not get a Felpro gasket to seal properly, it kept deforming. I went to O'reillys and bought a rubber gasket that seems to be working ok. I hope so, that is a PITA.

I'm getting too old to do this on the garage floor.
Click to expand...

The only gasket we use is the factory lube locker style or none. The soft gaskets suck ass and will never be fun to use.
 
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Get a poor man's lift, a tool organizer where you can actually see the tool you need when you're laying on your back, and some carpeting.
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Rubiconned said:
Carpet? Way too hard to move around. A mechanics creeper is the shizzle for us old folks. If only they sold motorized ones.
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I tried creepers and didn't like them. Between the wheels getting caught up in the expansion joints and on cords and air lines, running over tools and trying to get stuff out from under them not to mention the additional height they add under the vehicle I found cardboard and carpet to be better. Sliding around on cardboard is pretty easy, easier than trying to get my creeper rolling after dropping a wheel in the crack. I have a stack of 4x8 cardboard sheets that I use for oil changes.

Maybe if they'd come up with a motorized creeper with a hand held remote............I could do that.
 
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