1995 transmission cross member removal

[professor229]

I worked for Chevrolet back in the 60's and 70's..... I changed transmission fluid on many automatic transmissions... piece of cake..... Now, I own a 1995 C1500 with 75,000 miles and want to change the tranny fluid.... and here is what I ran into.....

Crawled under to find out which tranny I had... square shape, no dog ears, and to confirm this I wanted to count the number of pan bolts.... I suspect 16 and know what I need... but then got to thinking... how do I remove the back pan bolts completely hidden by the transmission crossmember?

Solution... TRY to remove the rusted bolts..... two on each side of the frame... and the one transmission mount nut in the middle....

So, my question..... I remove the four frame bolts.... and then the middle nut on the transmission mount .... now that is done.... here is the question...

Can I place a board under the tranny and jack it up an inch to get the cross member out so I can get access to the back pan bolts? Will I do any damage to anything if I jack it up an inch or so?

Has anyone actually done this? How do Chevy mechanics do this?

Please advise and thanks.... any other suggestions welcome as well....

Thanks again.... Dennis

[straight6chevyguy]

This may not apply to your transmission because mine is a manual but when I took my tranny out (a few days ago actually!) I had to remove the 2 bolts that hold the rubber mount to the tranny so I could remove the cross member. I did not feel to well about pushing up the tranny that far to make the bolt stud in the mount clear the hole in the cross member.

I'm not sure its the correct way but it's what I did.

[professor229]

Interesting.... I never thought of doing it that way but I will look to see if I can get to the two bolts on the transmission mount to the tranny..... If I had to guess, I would say they are also impossible to get to... but I will look tomorrow.... The other thought I had was taking out the two crossmember bolts on each side, the middle nut off the transmission mount and wonder if I can turn the crossmember to allow it to drop down..... but I think it will hit the back of the pan before the ends clear the frame..... I would love to talk to a Chevy mechanic and ask them about it.... I have boxed in frames on older trucks and added new motor mounts and fabricated my own cross member supports for these customized units and know that if I try to jack the tranny some bad things can happen like breaking the motor mounts on the motor...

But thanks for the suggestion and I will look tomorrow... I also hope there are some guys out there that have done this....

My plan B is to become very amateurish and just use a fluid transfer system to suck out as much as I can, and not replace the filter.... better than nothing but I would like to change the filter.... As far as a flush and fill, I think the forums I have read say it best.... work done by entry level people at the quick places, or if taken to a dealer... $$$$$ .......

I appreciate the answer ..... and hope to hear from others.... Thanks again...
Dennis

[ChevyTech]

The way I prefer is just take the nut of the bottom of the mount that protrudes through the bottom of the cross member.

Jack up the transmission from behind the cross member.

A swivel socket is used to remove the pan bolts on the back of the transmission.

Your truck is an easy one. The hard ones were the 1980 & 1090 S/T trucks with the exhaust covering the front of the pan and the same issue as yours at the rear of the pan.

Here are a few photos of a 2wd full size.

[professor229]

Hey.... thanks... there's the answer I have been looking for... but it does raise a few more questions..... that are kind of unique to this situation on my truck...

First, the nut you are referring to is in tough shape... rusty etc... and I will use a dremel tool with a tiny wire wheel to clean up the nut/threads before trying to remove it... If I break it, I have already looked into replacing the mount... not a big deal... because I will be removing the cross member as well... When I bought the truck, I noticed the previous owner had welded a patch on the cross member.... it was well done, but still a patch.... I want to remove the cross member to examine the other side of the patched area.... and if respectable, I will clean up the cross member, prime it, and undercoat it before putting it back... it probably will not need a new cross member $$$$ on a $2000 truck.... but as long as I am working in this, I might as well go one more step.... and do it right.... sort of....

I do have one more question though.... I understand exactly what I must do to accomplish this, but have heard horror stories about people jacking up trannies in the wrong place..... the plan is to use a 2x4 chunk of wood and jack on that so I don't break something but is the transmission "tail" where I want to jack? or is there an area that is more suitable to this?

A second question... I got the new "60" tranny filter and it came with "directions...." apparently Chevy upgraded the system... and the directions are sketchy at best.... in the old days, we pulled the filter off and there was a rubber O ring gasket that came with.... The new design filter talks about a chamfer at the top of the top that does not require an O ring?????? Has anyone else used one of these newer filters? Do I just pull the old one off as normal, lubricate the new tube end (as directed in the directions) and twist it up into position? Advice appreciated...

Again.... thanks for the advice and the pictures.....

[ChevyTech]

You're welcome!

I jack on the extension housing as close to the cross member as possible. Don't jack after the transmission gets to the top of it's easy travel.

Putting a 2x4 across the bottom of the pan and jacking it up is ok. Stop jacking before you run the top of the transmission into the body and start lifting the truck.

The 4L60 transmission does not use an o-ring but has a metal & rubber seal the pounds into the case.
Putting the seal in is easy. The harder part is getting the old seal out. Do not gouge the case removing the old seal. If the old seal is a good tight fit on the filter tube and feels pliable you my want to leave the old seal in place.

If you gouge the case the transmission could buzz like mad when started in cold winter temps.

Where in Minnesota are you located. I am in the suburbs of Minneapolis. Notice the photos of my truck, in my previous post, are not to rusty for a truck in this state. It gets babied.

[professor229]

Hi... again... thanks for the advice.... I still remember the old days... put the vehicle on the hoist, get a speed wrench with a 7/16 and you could see all the pan screws and leave the back two fairly tight, get a rubber mallet and hit the pan which spilled the fluid all over everything.... well... you tried not to...

I am still going to try to see if I can even see the two transmission mount bolts on the tranny but I suspect that they are somewhat hidden too... I shouldn't have to jack the tranny too far to get the cross member out.. so I can work on it....

We moved to Mounds View four years ago now....

I bought this truck as a project .... I have restored cars since 1968 as a hobby and have done several.... I no longer have a decent shop.... so I have really cut back ...... I did get the C1500 decent though.... but will leave this one alone and it will always be a 20 footer.... I needed it to pull my boats...

Thanks again for the advice.... it is very much appreciated...

PS.... I will take a long look at the tranny filter tube before I remove the filter so I know what to look for......

[Stormin08]

on my recent motor swap...i removed all trans mount bolts, jacked it up enough to remove the mount all together....the removed the cross member.

[professor229]

Thanks..... I have several ways to go here, and I am in no hurry... so I will start by working on the cross member to frame (four) bolts as they are in sad shape too.... but even if I have to grind them off, I can replace them easily enough..... Then that pesky middle bolt that will take some work.... or I may try to get the two mount bolts out too.... need to do some looking....thanks again....

[Stormin08]

all the bolts are easy to get to...soak them at the frame a day before...those are rather stout bolts

[professor229]

I am not too concerned about the four frame bolts as I can actually cut them off, and replace them with new... but the one that concerns me the most is the one bolt coming down from the transmission mount.... it is quite rusty and has deteriorated some.... I am going to try to get the two bolts loose from above the cross member that hold the mount to the transmission... If so, it is the same difference... once the cross member is removed, hopefully, I might look into just buying a new transmission mount... cheap enough.... and then go to work on the actual chore of a transmission fluid change.... I noticed on 1997 C1500 Chevy move the transmission cross member support out of the way.... betcha they got a little heat from a bunch of Chevy dealers.... I am going to take this one step at a time, and wait for a crappy rainy day to change the oil and then go to work on cleaning up the bolts with a wire wheel (dremel tool) and then soak them down a bit and see what happens.... will probably get back to this thread if I find something weird... but I don't expect to... thanks again...

[Stormin08]

worst case it tears out and you replace the mount