I'll be trying to change these two tranny seals tonight. I'll snap a couple pics and provide a brief DIY....

PLease do.....knocking on wood HARD....I haven't had to deal with the accumilator piston leak.

The range seal gasket was repaired at the time of new timing belt, waterpump, etc. was leaking pretty bad at that time.

Surfer - a little off topic, you have a Dana 44 rear - correct? Your gearing the 4.30, what visc of gear oil are you using?

I used 80W-90. I guess I could consider the higher weight (SAE 140) as I am "consistently above 50 degrees F" here. I'll stick with what is working.

I changed the range selector seal. I didn't take pics, but it was very easy. Remove the one bolt (14 mm wrench) from the lever and remove the manual lever. Pop off the cover for the neutral switch. Remove the 2 bolts holding the netral switch (one is hard to see toward the front of the truck and on top- both 10 mm with a washer). Pull off the switch. Remove the seal from around the shaft. Replace with the new one. I pushed it on with a deep socket and pry bar. Put it back together. I had to put it in reverse to get the manual lever back on.

Turns out the piston cover was not leaking much at all. The majority of the leak was from loose tranny pan bolts! I had dropped the pans and changed the filter and fluid just before my trip and it didn't occur to me that the seal could be bad. They just needed to be retorqued. I'll save the piston cover and ring for later! And the tranny is shifting great. No shudder. I did check my carrier bearing. There is considerable play there. Another job to be done, but the lower ball joints get done next...

thanks for the followup..... Put it [range selector switch] back together. did you match mark the switch... or use the drill bit alignment in the slots... or a DMM... to get the adjustment right?


I had to put it in reverse to get the manual lever back on. why?

thanks

//bc

Cool beans!

I didn't think the accumilator piston issue was a common concern for our years, or for the 1st generation in general - seems to be morely linked to the 2nd gen's.

Lower ball joints, hmmm, I haven't checked mine in a while - I've actually been amazed, honestly, how long my original suspension parts have lasted with the moderately rough life this truck has seen. Definitely had a rougher life then 98% of other 4x2's; and at least 90% of your typical 4x4's too.

trooper bc:

I saw in my Haynes that you are supposed to use a 3/32 bit or similar to align it properly, but I couldn't find any place to put it! I had my son see if he could start the truck with the switch in different positions before I tightened the bolts down, and I had no problems. It started with the switch in the entire range, so I put it back to where I thought it was originally. Am I setting myself up for an issue down the road?

As far as putting the selector in reverse to get the manual lever back on, it was just easier. Maybe the shaft rotated a little when I took the lever off? Seems to work well now.

The boots on both lower ball joints are torn.

Drag.

I'm still leaking. I have a Fel-Pro rubber gasket and I'm going to replace the pan gasket ($2.10). If that doesn't do it, off to the shop it goes.

Well, the old gasket may have been overtorqued. I had some tearing of the gasket at the screw sites. I put the new one on and it seems to be holding. I'll check it tomorrow. I'm spending way too much time on this truck...