Holy cow! Ever have one of those 1-hour repair jobs that turns into a 5-hour job? Just wanted to change the fluid and filter on the auto tranny on my 1998 Explorer 4x4 SOHC 6. Sounded simple enough. Major problem encountered. When I had the transmission pan unbolted and loose, I could not get it clear of the catalytic converters on the right, the crossmember in the rear and the front drive shaft on the left to bring the pan down and out. I tried every way possible to twist and turn that pan and get it to clear, but to no avail. It has to come out of there some way. Only thing I can figure is that the left side catalytic converter is installed just a tad more to the left than is should be. I only needed about 1/4 inch more clearance and it would have come on down. However, there was no way to move the driveshaft, crossmember or catalytic converter enough to gain this clearance. I was able to **** the pan at an angle to gain access to the tranny filter so I changed that. Then I had to clean the pan, including scrapping the old gasket off while it was still under the truck. What a pain!! Finally managed to get it clean, install a new gasket and get it bolted back up. Any money I saved on this job was not worth the aggravation. Next time, the dealer can deal with it.

JD

 

Did the same thing a couple of years ago...my Haynes manual said nothing about having to drop the driveshaft, which is what I ended up having to do (after seeking input from this forum).

Jeff

 

Yep, I thought about dropping the driveshaft, but that seemed so ridiculous just to change the tranny fluid and filter. But thanks very much for your input. Feel better that it just wasn't me. Was like trying to solve a rubiks cube standing on your head under a truck...LOL

JD

 

Actually, once I realized there was no way around dropping the shaft (never done it before), it was easy and had tons of room. You need to mark the shaft if it's not already done (so that you can put it back on the way you took it off) and wrap the ujoint in tape so it stays together. It's just a few torx bolts and that's it.

 

so if its a 4wd u have to drop the shaft?? I have a 2wd and have changed mine out 2 times.. 30 min job. But i have never changed a 4x4..

 

You may be right on the 2WD, I haven't seen it. The kicker on the 4WD is that it ALMOST seems like there is enough room one way or the other and maybe you just have to tilt it right. It sucks out loud. I spent 3 hours trying to figure it out (while waiting for a response from this forum), which was to drop the shaft.

 

i bet thats right.. i know that the pan on the 2wd is not blocked by anything.. it comes straight to the ground. i have never looked under a 4x4 explorer.. but i am going to look under my 4x4 jeep cherokee when i get home.. b/c i haven't looked at it yet..

 

That's what frosts me about some of the manuals that are out there (like my Haynes). They show how to do the job, but aren't specific to nuances like access tips (this pan drop and how to access the back plugs on the V6). That's why I embrace this forum so!! I just wish I knew the questions to ask before I'm 1/2 way thru the job.

 

OH YEAH the back plugs GRRR.. my haynes manual almost died that day.. b/c i wanted to rip it up.. but they are basic.. and these guys in this site are smart.. nobody will respond to my seafoam post. that stuff rocks!

 

I owned a 1990 cherokee 6. The transmission pan came off very easily, just stright down....no problems That is why I was so supprised by my Explorer 4x4. What a nightmare that pan is to deal with. This time Ford did not 'have a better idea"

JD

 

I just tried to do some work on my 1999 4x4 SOHC Explorer...I had the same problem!!

How do you drop the driveshaft or move the cat?

Late,
Nick

 

Id recomend droping the driveshaft... its much easier then moving the cat... when you take the cat off it can be a bitch to put it back on beacuse it can be a pain to thread the nuts back on, also if your gonna drop the cat, a good quality deep well swivel socket becomes handy... droping the driveshaft, you just have to mark it and take a few bolts out... easy as pie

 

I took the 4 bolts off the drive shaft...it didn't drop...how do you get it off the u joint??????????

 

I don't think there is anything else there.

On mine (and I assume on yours) the torx bolts hold the driveshaft in using two very simple u-shaped brackets/straps. If you have removed the torx bolts, the straps should fall off or be easy to remove. You should find that the shaft now has a little backward play in it, and should be easy to seperate from the yolk.

Have a piece of electrical or other tape ready. Once you pull off the shaft, you want to wrap it around the u-joint to make sure the bearings don't fall out. You'll see what I mean...once you remove the shaft, the joint will want to explode apart...wrapping it in tape keeps it together.

I used a very small bungee to simply suspend the shaft out of the way...I hooked it to something on the drivers side.

I have a diagram of the driveshaft/u-joint available from my Haynes repair manual I would be happy to email you, just email me at jeff.caldwell@vitecgroup.com

 

The pan on my '96 4X4 Explorer dropped straight down... no problem! Not to rub-it-in, just to let others know that not all 4X4 Explorers have that problem.