First transmission change

Still not done... The transfer case was a breeze of course, went to the transmission and right off the bat the gasket on the drain bolt is corroded, it was a metal collar with rubber insert type. Read in a previous post that it is supposed to be a copper washer, does it matter? Drained it, but probably only 2 quarts drained.

Moved on to the adapter pan, got all the bolts off and it wouldn't budge! First tried wiggling it, nope; then tried hammering with a piece of wood between the pan and hammer, nope; finally got it off by like putting all my muscle into it on my back overhanded and pulling forward. Splattered everywhere, unfortunately. No gasket at all, did they RTV it closed the last time or something? I didn't see anything on the pan or the body, so who knows.

Moved back to the transmission pan as I heard you could get it with the swivel socket, mine must be too big as it can get on it but won't move at all. So now I'm trying to get the rear mount bolts off so I can lift the transmission slightly, but hit a dead end for today: I lack a deep socket set and the hardware stores close at 6 around here.

So for tomorrow I have one last question, should I try and drain the cooler lines in the front as well, because all in all I'm only gonna drain 4 quarts from the entire assembly (which is less than half I believe)? Or does enough drop out when you remove the filter? BTW, I do have replacement gaskets for the two pans of course.

So I went ahead and just dropped the crossmember, wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I guess the adaptor pan gasket was there the whole time just was sealed to the top. I didn't bother scraping it off to put a new one on. Put everything back on, and one bolt of the crossmember stripped it seems; it just spins never tightening down all the way. I gave up for the day after that, will fill it up and go through the arduous process of checking for correct fluid amounts tomorrow.

First up I have to say that I have never done this transmission service.
That said, I definitely don't like doubling up on the pan gasket. I would scrape the old one off and make sure that all is perfectly clean and flat before re-assembling with a new gasket.
Just my opinion.

PK

As long as you are doing it do it right. Drain all you can from both pans and remove and replace gaskets.

For clarification, if you meant doubling up on the gasket in the way of putting two gaskets on I didn't do that (would fear the same result of wearing two condoms). Its just The old one didn't have any cracks or tears, plus it wouldn't budge when I tried to pull it/pry it off. I just left it there and re-fastened the adaptor pan.

I must say, I was scared that putting the gasket on the main pan looked like it was going to be a pain to line up that many holes with so many screws. I was relieved to find that the gasket actually holds the screws in place making it super easy to just ratchet them all on.

First fill prior to starting it took 3 quarts to fill the pan. Then after letting it warm up and cycling the gears it took another 3 quarts. I was filling it up a quart at a time and then after the third, I tried half a quart and it ran out. So hopefully that's the right amount. The car definitely shifts better than before, my guess it was actually low on oil aside from the chocolate and burnt oil that was remaining. Nothings dripping as of yet, so I would say mission complete! Now was that worth saving 220 dollars for the first time, I'm not sure. But it should be much easier the next time around.