4l80e Heat Shield Removal

atuel · April 5, 2010

So trying to change my tranny fluid... theres a heat shield on the passenger side thats not the one I'm used to seeing on these trucks (ie 2 10mm bolts on the side and easy off). This one on my truck is a big support bracket that holds the sheild that is spot welded to it and spans over for the 2 exhaust pipes to mount up to. Theres 2 13mm bolts oriented vertically on the top of the tranny just under the bottom of the cab floor. Not really enough space to get in there and rotate, so I'm not sure how to get it off. There might be enough space to get a ujoint socket in between the sheild on the tranny pan though never really torqued anything through one of those before. What is the proper way to drop the pan on this to change the filter?

Rednecking · April 6, 2010

hey atuel that funny u ask that cuz i just did the one on my truck today and i just kinda bent the heat shield back a bit so get a u get a flex shocket in there and i had no problems. but the other thing i had to do was that a had to loosen the bolts on the tranny mount so u can lift the tranny up about an inch to clear the wires and a small pipe inside the tranny pan when removing it. hope this helps

atuel · April 12, 2010

Well, did the service yesterday... was able to get a 1/4" ujoint socket in there and get them off somewhat easily. The 3/8" one would have probably been better as the torques for these bolts was bending the 1/4" one a bit more than I'd like to see but it was much harder to get in there as I also had to fit a 3/8-1/4" drive adapter since my 3/8" drive 10mm socket was no where to be found as I was on my back under the truck.

Would have went a heck of a lot easier if the GM engineers would have tried doing this at least once.

If they put a center hole in the trans mount that hangs over the back of the tranns pan, the center rear bolt on the pan would be very easily accessible for proper torque without having to move the cross member and support.

The exhaust on the truck is separate all the way back to the muffler (no h pipe) and the way its tied up with the heat sheild, its next to impossible to move that. If they would have curved the drivers side pipe half an in closer to the front of the truck, the pan can drop nearly strait down without having to disconnect the drive shaft and push it up and out of the way.