Ok, Who Designed The Transmission Shift Bracket? :-)

[Tickerguy]

The subject vehicle is an '02 Suburban 1500, 5.3L Flex, 4WD LT.

 

So this should be easy -- put the truck on ramps, get under it, drop pan, take bath in fluid, replace filter, seal and gasket, replace pan, fill, drive truck.

 

Nope.

 

The bracket for the shift cable is in the way and there is no way to get the pan to clear it.  The exhaust crossover pipe allows enough clearance EXCEPT for that bracket.  It's 1/4" steel too; not going anywhere.

 

The bolts that hold it on are star-drive and ON TOP of the transmission case (!)  It's impossible to get a wrench on them as far as I can determine without dropping the gearbox first.  You can remove the cable from the bracket without too much trouble (it has a locking clamp and then comes out pretty easily) but that doesn't help you.

 

The drain bolt is stripped in the pan, which I hear is common as GM apparently thought Loctite was a good idea to use at the factory, plus some torque value approximating "ape".  Not that this matters if you want to change the filter.  The fluid and filter were allegedly changed about 30,000 miles ago (I don't drive this thing much at all due to its awful fuel economy) but I SUSPECT that it got a "wall job" and not really a fluid change as the fluid is somewhat dark and, for a vehicle with 60kish miles on it, that's not all that usual even with this much time IF the other change at 35ish was actually done.  I bet it wasn't.

 

So there has to be a way to get the pan off without dropping the entire gearbox (and everything else that it's attached to, like the transfer case, along with pulling the exhaust from the manifold back), right?

 

Does anyone know what the secret incantation is to get access to those bracket star bolts, and since they're pretty decent size star bolts at that (T40 I believe) whether a rational amount of torque will break them free?  If they strip on me then that bracket isn't coming off at all (without the gearbox coming out first!)

 

Thanks in advance....

[txab]

Some people bend the bracket slightly to gain clearance. Be gentle

Or follow he directions here. Getting to the Torx bolts isn't that bad

 

http://www.truckmodcentral.com/forums/f63/transmission-filter-change-02-silverado-4636/

[tbarn]

x2 on bend the bracket

[Tickerguy]

That bracket isn't going to be gently-anything; it's quite thick and the amount of bending necessary for the lip to clear the projecting part approaches an inch!  The transmission case appears to be aluminum, which, if I reef on that bracket could break (catastrophic, of course, if it happens) -- or the bracket might snap, which would REALLY be bad if I can't get the bolts out since it would be very hard to shift the truck after that! :-)  Contemplating having to pull the gearbox entirely with the truck immobilized in my driveway is NOT something that makes me smile.

 

As for the front driveshaft dropping it out of the yoke on the front doesn't give me enough clearance to get in there with two hands, and you need two (one to counterhold the top of the ratchet) or the odds of stripping that torx bolt go WAY up.  A half-hearted attempt with one hand, the limited leverage I have compared with using both, a 3/8" drive regular ratchet (all that will fit) and being careful not to strip it didn't move either of them.  I may come back at it cutting the seal band on the transfer case and remove the driveshaft entirely, which would give me more working room to get in there... but if those bolts don't come out then I don't know how you get in there to cut them off.  I see no way to get a chisel and hammer in there.

 

There may be more room on the Silverado; on my 1500 Suburban LT it's VERY tight up in there and the front bolt has an electrical connector right near it (presumably for the transmission gear indicator and/or power for the solenoids) -- damaging that would be severe bad news too.

 

I've sworn to do evil things to some GM engineer over the parking brake design on these trucks in the past (Drums?  Really?  They never get hot in ordinary use and inevitably turn into balls of rust) and now I get to add the idiot putting blind torx bolts on top of the gearbox to the list of reasons those people should have their toenails pulled off with a pair of vise-grips.

[txab]

Plenty of people have done this on ALL different models. It can be done. The bracket does not have to pried much. You need to remove the heat shield on the other side. Pry on the bracket while removing the pan. There are several youtube videos showing people with tahoes and burbs successfully removing the pan, either by tweaking the bracket to clear or removing the torx bolts. Clean the torx screw socket to get as much debris, if any out if it. This help seat the tool. Do as suggested in the link I gave you and replace the torx with a metric bolt

[Tickerguy]

I got the bracket off.  Yes, I know you can bend it and remove the heat shield (I've seen the Youtubes), but there are fairly delicate things under the bottom of the transmission case and if you screw up something in there (one of the solenoids, for example) you will cry.

 

Those torx bolts are not going back on there, obviously.  Some nice Grade 8 or Stainless with aluminum-compatible anti-seize in the threads will be put there instead.  I was able to get it with disconnecting the front yoke and didn't have to pull the entire driveshaft out, but if I had larger hands that absolutely would have been necessary.

 

If I ever meet the GM engineer responsible for putting those bolts up there I'm still going to pull his toenails off; there's utterly no reason for that sort of nonsense other than to make a routine job into a few-hour long $400 monstrosity if someone takes the truck to the dealer to have it done, never mind the risk of a "wall job" (which absolutely WAS done on my truck -- those bolts had never been touched with a wrench and it was obvious when I put an inspection mirror up there.)

 

[tbarn]

Trans service pays .8 in our shop.

[sefiroxx]

Use one of the these pictured adapters on the torx socket with a flex head gear wrench. Works like a charm

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