Help transmission seal removal

lancer1991 · March 19, 2006

The seal is not coming out. I have a small 3/4 turn hook tool and it's not budging. The only thing I'm doing is peeling away at the rubber. Went to part store and got a large seal puller, but can only get at it one way due it's size and I don't want to leverage too hard as it sits on the side of the hole and I don't want to damage the transmission. Please help.

rjirvine · March 19, 2006

I had the exact same problem on a 97 K1500. I wound up leaving it in there. I dind't tear up the rubber part of the seal though. I did see in the haynes manual that they showed a "seal removal tool". I'm not sure what's up with that, but I tried an offset common screwdriver and the biggest common screwdriver I had, that seal wouldn't budge!

mmmikkke · March 19, 2006

The seal is not coming out. I have a small 3/4 turn hook tool and it's not budging. The only thing I'm doing is peeling away at the rubber. Went to part store and got a large seal puller, but can only get at it one way due it's size and I don't want to leverage too hard as it sits on the side of the hole and I don't want to damage the transmission. Please help.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

With an assumption of how it looks up there, I think you might be able to lightly apply heat--try heating the transmission just to maybe 200 degrees--and then try to extract the seal. Aluminum has a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than steel, so it will expand more than the seal and it should make it easier to get out. It's worth a try at this point.

pm26 · March 19, 2006

Here are some tips on oil seal removal:

1. If the seal has no shaft going through the middle, as would be when you pull the rear axles, the best and easiest way to remove the axle seal is with a sliding hammer with a three point gear puller attachment. Works like a charm. I found regular seal puller useless in this applications.

2. For seals with the shaft going through, as in case of front crank seal replacement, you have to very careful not to damage either the rotating shaft surface or the seal housing. The best way to remove the seal here is to use screwdriver and a hammer and carefully hit the metal ring on the seal all the way around to distort it and get it loose. Be very careful when you do this. Then get a punch and punch a small identation in the metal seal body, and drill a small hole into the metal part. Be extremely carefull not to damage anything as drills are lot harder than aluminum or sast iron housings. Screw in a sheet metal screw into the hole and use a small sliding hammer with a suitable attachment to grab the screw and pull the seal out. I tired the crew trick without distorting the seal body first and would not come out. When I hit the metal ring several times with screwdriver and hammer, and then drilled the hole and used the screw, the seal came right out.

Some recommend cutting away the soft rubber part of the seal with a sharp hobby knife and then use a seal puller with a rag to pull the seal out. You are more likely to damage the rotating part this way though.

mblrds · March 20, 2006

I'm assuming you're referring to the seal that the transmission filter neck fits into.

How I got mine out was to take a punch and tap at the edge causing the seal to fold into itself.

lancer1991 · March 20, 2006

I'm assuming you're referring to the seal that the transmission filter neck fits into.
How I got mine out was to take a punch and tap at the edge causing the seal to fold into itself.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, that was it. I ended up taking an awl and hamering in between the transmission and the seal until it bent all over itself that I could grab with needle nose vice grips. I did end up putting a couple of nicks in, but are covered by the new seal (I have a photo if anyone thinks this may be bad).

I do have a question though, I took this photo and I'm curious about 2 things:

1. I tore the paper gasket type thing that is somehow embedded in the transmission that you can see just to the top of the seal, is this important.

2. What is the deal with the rough beaten up look just above that paper gasket? I had a GM service center do something about 2 1/2 years ago or so regarding a slipping transmission, but can't remember exactly what it was. So, maybe they did this or it is just normal. It just looks horrible.