OK.. I am NOT a tranny guy. Simple stuff, but not enough to start tearing things apart.
Anyway, 79' PW with a 727....
last fall I noticed I was getting a drip of ATF under the truck. Looked under there and the pan gasket was wet. Being as it had been a year or two since I changed the filter, I got a filter and gasket. Still leaked, but I thought it was because I did something wrong.
Leak started get slowly worse, but it was dead of winter by now. I just lived with it. The other day, I get under there and change the gasket again being very careful and cleaning things up very tidy. Still leaked.
So now that I had things cleaned up, I could see it wasn't the pan gasket, but the shift selector shaft seal leaking. I'm thinking 'Oh GREAT... How do I get to that!'
Research the net and apparently there are two ways to fix this. One is to drop the pan and valve body and pop the seal out from the inside. I don't want to do that, I'm not a tranny guy. Plus the article I read said to watch out for the thing-a-ma-bobs that will come flying out when you remove the valve body. So for me, this ain't an option..
The other is to buy this nifty little tool (Pic below) where you can R & R the seal from the top. Prob is, it's like $40.00 .... I don't mind spending $40.00 on a tool, but not for something I may only ever use once in my life....
So, does anyone know another way to do this? Getting the seal back in looks easy enough, it's just getting it out. Or should I just bite the bullet and buy the tool...
OR... Since I'm pretty sure nothing has ever been done to this tranny, should I really bite the bullet and have a tranny shop just replace all the seals?
buck99
03-30-2008, 08:59 AM
It's probably easiest to drop out the valve body. Not really that hard. You've done a lot more difficult projects....
Speed Dragon
03-30-2008, 09:06 AM
Yeah just drop the pan and the valve body, just make sure you have good instructions on where the thing-a-ma-bobs go :D (I'm assuming those are check balls and springs).
Delray Dude
03-31-2008, 08:04 AM
Yeah....I'd drop the valvebody - it's a little messy, but not that bad. The hardest thing was a linkage that goes to the parking lock - I did this about 3-4 years ago, I remember I dropped the body and it came down enough to remove the e-clip on this rod and bam comes right out. Just be ready for the ATF bath!!!! other than that, pretty easy - just be sure to remove the linkages from the shaft on the top side!!!
bherder
03-31-2008, 09:18 AM
Mmmmm ...... I might give it a try. I'm having a hard time justifying a $40.00 tool to R & R a $3.00 seal.... Lucky for me, someone years ago, brazed a drain plug in the pan.. ;)
Delray Dude
03-31-2008, 09:25 AM
Mmmmm ...... I might give it a try. I'm having a hard time justifying a $40.00 tool to R & R a $3.00 seal.... Lucky for me, someone years ago, brazed a drain plug in the pan.. ;)
Drain plugs are a wonderful thing.....as much as I hate automatics...i put in the deep Mopar pan on my 904 and it comes with a drain plug. - and my pan is leaking - so I'm gonna hafta redo it sometime.
I'd give the thing a shot - it's really not that bad of a deal, but you should get a little bath when the valvebody is dropped - I think there is some fluid "stored" above it somewhere...
B-300
03-31-2008, 12:07 PM
You can pry the seal out from the top also. Others have, including myself many years ago.
I would save the $40 and put to other use such as a shift kit.
The accumulator spring (on the right side) and possibbly the accumulator are the only other "thing-a-ma-bobs" that will come out.... No check-balls, unless you disassemble the valve body.
bherder
03-31-2008, 01:44 PM
Yeah, I think you guys are right.... Apparently, after reading a 'how-to' elsewhere, there are actually TWO seals in there.. and it looks like you can only replace both if you pull everything apart from the bottom. I'd REALLY be pissed off if I only replaced the one seal and stil had the other leak.... I guess I'll have to suck-it-up and get brave :D
This is the link I found if anyone else is interested...
Here is a link with a pictures of both seals and some part #. (Note the throttle linkage shaft is removed in the pictures.)
www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196383
bherder
03-31-2008, 02:22 PM
Thank you sir! Good to know what I'm looking at, before I'm looking at it.... ;)
sgillett
03-31-2008, 02:27 PM
I always buy 2 of the bigger seals because I always mess up the seal on the first attempt. (of course that's just me).
It is not a hard job, just a pain installing the bigger seal in the case.
The small seal goes in the part that come out with the valve body.
My $.02
LEVE
03-31-2008, 09:55 PM
Drop the pan and valve body You should be able to do the job in a couple of hours. The valve body's held in by only about 14 bolts. With a good 1/4" torque wrench, and a $7 seal you'll have that transmission leak proofed in no time. I have the ATSG manual scanned, so if you need any part of it.. let me know and I'll Email it to you.
bherder
04-12-2008, 06:24 PM
Well, as usual, you guys were right.. ;)
I decided to get brave today and tackle the leaky seal. I bought the seals, new filter/gasket and a couple gallons of ATF at NAPA. $33.00 ....
I even followed sgillett's advice and bought two of the bigger seals (That seal the shift shaft) ... They were only like $4.00 each, so I figured better to have a spare if I screw it up. :D
Anyway, I pulled the plug on the pan and let it drain for a good hour. I did learn one thing... No matter how long you let the damn thing drain, there is a CONSTANT dripping of ATF.....
So the valve body came off OK and I got the big seal popped out... Cleaned everything up around it... Cleaned the shaft up with some sotch-brite .. Put the new seal in by drawing it in with a nut/bolt/couple of big fender washers. Went fine...
THEN.... From the instructions I'd gotten off the net... In order to replace the little-bitty seal for the kick-down shaft, there is supposed to be some E-Clip to take off, so you can completely disconnet the valve body from the rod it's now hanging off of.
I stared/looked/did head-stands for an hour looking for what they were talking about. I dunno, maybe I'm just retarded. I couldn't find it.
Short story is, I got frustrated (I'm NOT a tranny guy) and put it all back together PRAYING that that little seal wasn't going to leak.
I guess I got lucky.... :D :D :D
Put it all back together, filled up the tranny ... Drove it for 20 miles... Dry as a bone.
The Mopar Gods are smiling on me.. :D
Chump
04-12-2008, 11:59 PM
FYI-don't forget the 30 cent o-ring on the dipstick tube. I once pulled the whole tranny for reseal in my 69 Charger R/T. Put it back in only to have the same leak! Was just the o-ring. :):)
bherder
04-13-2008, 12:52 AM
FYI-don't forget the 30 cent o-ring on the dipstick tube. I once pulled the whole tranny for reseal in my 69 Charger R/T. Put it back in only to have the same leak! Was just the o-ring. :):)
Heeeeey! Chump! Glad to see ya back!
Heh heh heh .... Naw, I'm 99.99% sure I got it.... All the ATF was leaking big-time from the other side of the tranny. After I drove it and parked it today, I kept going back out to the shop, every hour, for about 4 hours... sticking my face up under the rig... Still dry. (I'm doing my 'Hail Marys' here).... So I think I'm good to go....
Good advice/hint on your part though.... Trust me, I've done things just as bad/goofy... :D
