Well, got the tranny fluid changed. Would have been a complete success if it hadn’t been for one mishap.
Initial setup was straight forward but getting the plastic hose over the end of the return line wasn’t easy. I decided to route the plastic tubing over the top of the tranny and up over the back of the running board. That way the tubing was held in place and I could keep an eye on how much fluid was being pumped out, watch for bubbles...
After the first 4 or so quarts the bubbles started (pan "empty") so stopped and dropped the pan to change filter and clean it out (laid an old towel on the ground to catch any random drops). Easier to drop the pan when empty.
Got the pan all nice and clean, changed the filter, then put it all back on. Almost stripped the a bolt when torquing the first bolt down because the torque setting was so low that there was no “click” on the torque wrench and I didn’t notice the “breaking” of the handle so I just kept torquing away. Realized what I was doing before I stripped or broke something.
After that it was just a matter of adding some fluid and draining some fluid, a couple of quarts at a time, until it was coming out nice and clean. I went thru the gears a couple of times during the "flush" like the instructions said... but at one point, I think it was reverse, I suddenly saw more big air bubbles so I stopped and looked under the truck...
I think a combo of the weight of the tubing filled with fluid (since it was hanging in space) and the tube warming up caused the tube to pull off part way. It was still on and still looked like it was over the return line far enough... but it had to come from somewhere. I tried pushing it back on a little more and all was fine after that. A clamp or vise grips would have prevented that. Oh well... what's sad is that I had the towel down underneath but removed it thinking I was home free
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Continued until I ran about 15 quarts thru, reattached the return line, went thru the gears once more, checked level, added too much in attempt to get it to the proper fill level, but after I drove around the block, again going thru all the gears, it ended up low. Topped it off, cleaned up the mess on the floor, and called it an over all success.
Total spend was about $160 ($110 for trans fluid, $20 for filter, $30 misc) plus about 3 hours of time. Was it worth the effort?